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^Compiled from various British Publications,] 



BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY ISAAC KNAPP 

18 36. 



CONTENTS. 

Pag:e. 

Introduction, . , 5 

Great Anti-Slavery Meeting at Birming- 
ham, Oct. 14, 1835, 13 

Soiree, in honor of Mr. Thompson, at 

Glasgow, Jan. 25, 1836, . ... 33 
Address presented to Mr. Thompson at 
An Entertainment given by the inhab- 
itants of Edinburgh, Feb. 19, 1836, . 58 
Lecture at Edinburgh, Jan. 27, 1836, . 64 

Jan. 31, '' . 77 
" " Feb. 8, " . 85 

" at Glasgow, 96 

Remarks at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

Peace Meeting, 108 

Lecture at Glasgow, Jan. 29, 1836, . 117 

Address to Ministers, 141 

Proceedings at the 2d Annual Meeting 
of the Glasgow Emancipation Society, 

March 1, 1836, 150 

Meetings in London, 176 

2 



INTRODUCTION. 

While Mr. Thompson remained in this 
country, it is well known that one of the fa- 
vorite accusations of the pro-slavery press 
against him, was, that he came hither a fugi- 
tive from justice — that obliged to leave Eng- 
land, he visited America to avoid transporta- 
tion to Botany Bay. To his persevering slan- 
derers it signified nothing that he had the at- 
testation of some of the best nien of Great 
Britain, to the excellence of his character as 
a man and a Christian, and the incalculable 
value of his services in the cause of humani- 
ty ; it mattered not that he came as the repre- 
sentative of a noble body of Philanthropists — 
including men illustrious for their talents 
and attainments, learned divines, able legis- 
ators, good and wise and pure-minded men 
— highly esteemed on both sides of the Atlan- 
tic, for their sterling worth, their ardent piety 
and active benevolence and devotion to every 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

good word and work. It mattered not that 
his own deportment here, was such as cor- 
roborated the favorable testimonials of his 
British friends — that he bore himself as a gen- 
tleman and a Christian — that he exhibited 
not only those qualities which dazzle and de- 
light, and extort admiration, but those also 
which command respect and enchain aflfec- 
tion. All this went for nothing. Enough 
was it for the enemies of impartial liberty — 
the apologists of legalized man-stealing, that 
Mr. Thompson's unrivalled eloquence was 
enlisted on the side of justice, truth, and the 
equal rights of man — enough that he was an 
enemy and a formidable enemy to that ini- 
quitous system which they had set themselves 
to excuse and defend. By unwearied efforts 
in the work of calumny and abuse, by con- 
stant reiteration of gross falsehoods and in- 
flammatory appeals to passion and prejudice 
and national jealousy, they at length succeed- 
ed in arraying against him a feeling of such 
bitter hostility that he could no longer, with- 
out exposing his life to imminent peril, con- 
tinue to prosecute the purposes of his benev- 
olent mission among us, and his friends here, 
though reluctant to part with him and relin- 



INTRODUCTION. VU 

quisli the anticipated advantages of his co- 
operation, felt constrained to counsel his de- 
parture from our shores. 

And whither did he fly ? Why, verily — he 
returned directly to that land which his ca- 
lumniators declare that he was forced to leave, 
that he might escape an ignominious punish- 
ment. And how was he received there t — ■ 
Were the officers of justice standing ready to 
seize him, the instant he should again set 
foot on British soil ? Was the convict ship 
waiting to receive him on board, and then 
hoist sail for New Holland 1 The answer 
may be gathered from the following pages, 
which describe the manner of his reception 
in his native country, and contain accounts of 
various meetings which he has attended, and 
reports, more or less full, of the speeches he 
has delivered, since his arrival there. 

A more full refutation of the foul slander 
which represented him as ' bankrupt in repu- 
tation' in his own country, could not be de- 
sired, than is furnished by the warm and cor- 
dial — nay, the enthusiastic welcome which 
has met him in every part of the island which 
he has yet visited. Glasgow, Edinburgh 
Newcastle and London have given loud and 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

united testimony to the fact, that Geofge 
Thompson is indeed the man whom the peo- 
ple of Great Britain delight to honor. He has 
in truth, made a triumphal progress through 
the United Kingdoms, everywhere hailed with 
acclamations of joy, loaded with caresses and 
greeted with the hearty congratulations of all 
classes of people, on his safe return from his 
arduous, and to a very good degree, success- 
ful mission. Especially has he been honored 
with the highly favorable notice and friendly 
attentions and commendations of those whose 
friendship is peculiarly valuable — of those 
* whose own high merit claims the praise 
they give.' 

First after his arrival, comes the splendid 
Soiree in Glasgow, on Monday, the 25th of 
January, at which the large hall used on the 
occasion, was at an early hour, ' crowded with 
a brilliant assembly ' convened to do him hon- 
or. The most eminent persons in the city, 
clergy and laymen, were present and active 
in the proceedings of the evening — eloquent 
addresses were given, and spirited resolutions 
adopted, condemning in strong terms the sla- 
very and prejudice against color existing in 
America, and expressing the * high admira- 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

tion ' which the meeting entertained ' of the 
blameless propriety, distinguished talent and 
noble self-devotion ' exhibited by Mr. T. in 
prosecuting the objects of his mission to this 
country ; as well as the gratitude to God which 
was felt for the success that had attended his 
labors, and for his safe return. 

The demonstrations of applause with which 
Mr. Thompson was received on entering the 
hall, and when he rose to speak, as well as 
repeatedly in the course of his remarks, are 
represented by the Glasgow papers, to have 
been enthusiastic and vehement beyond de- 
scription. A most unusual and unaccounta- 
ble reception truly, for a man just returned 
from a voyage made to escape transportation 
as a criminal ! 

We next find Mr. T. at Edinburgh, to which 
place he went on the 26th of January, and 
where on the evening of the 27th he met the 
ladies and gentlemen forming the Commit- 
tees of the Edinburgh Emancipation Society, 
and gave a narrative of his doings in Ameri- 
ca, which is declared in the Edinburgh pa- 
pers, to have been ' to every one present far 
more than satisfactory.' Resolutions highly 
complimentary to himself, and decidedly ap- 



X INTRODUCTION. 

proving his conduct in the United States, were 
unanimously adopted. [See page 74 of this 
volume.] 

On the next evening — Thursday, Jan. 28th, 
at a public meeting of the members and friend 
of the same Society, which consisted of more 
than two thousand persons, admitted by tick* 
ets, he gave an account of his mission, and 
was received with the same indications of un- 
qualified approbation, as at Glasgow. His 
first appearance called out 'several distinct 
rounds of applause,' and the cheering was 
frequently repeated during the evening. 

The next day Mr. T. returned to Glasgow, 
and in the evening gave a lecture on Ameri- 
can slavery, in Dr. Wardlaw's chapel, to a 
large audience. Such was the anxiety to 
hear him, that long before the hour of meet- 
ing, the house was filled. His reception, as 
on the former occasion, was such as evinced 
that he was the universal favorite. The re- 
marks made by the Chairman of the meeting, 
Rev. Dr. Heugh, at the close of the lecture, 
and greeted with unequivocal tokens of ap- 
proval by the assembly, [See page 140] will 
serve to show the estimation in which they 
held their ^excellent Missionary.' 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

From Glasgow he again went to Edinburgh, 
and on Monday evening, Feb. 1st, addressed 
an adjourned meeting of the Edinburgh Eman- 
cipation Society, in continuation of the pre- 
ceeding Thursday's discourse, on the subject 
of his American mission. As before, he was 
loudly and repeatedly applauded. At the 
conclusion of his address, Rev. Dr. Ritchie 
moved, and the meeting unanimously adopt- 
ed, a series of resolutions, couched in lan- 
guage of the highest commendation of Mr. 
Thompson's character and conduct, and ex- 
pressive of deep sympathy with the Abolition- 
ists of this country, and at the same time re- 
buking with kindness and Christian fidelity, 
the churches, ministers and professors in 
America, who give their support to the ini- 
quitous system of slavery. 

The next Monday evening, Feb. 8th, Mr. 
Thompson attended and took part in a public 
meeting of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, held 
for the purpose of expressing their views of 
slavery in the United States. The Lord Pro- 
vost of the city presided, and a large number 
of the most distinguished citizens, among 
whom were nearly twenty clergymen, appear- 
ed upon the platform. When, after several 



XII INTRODUCTION. 

Other gentlemen had spoken, Mr. T. rose to 
address the meeting, he was greeted, as usu- 
al, * with tremendous applause.' Among the 
resolutions adopted, was one which spoke in 
laudatory terms, of his talents and services in 
the cause of emancipation. 

The inhabitants of Edinburgh, not yet sat- 
isfied with what they had done to honor him, 
gave Mr. Thompson an entertainment, on the 
evening of February 19th, at which an ad- 
dress, signed on behalf of the meeting, by R. 
K. Greville, L. L. D., Chairman, was present- 
ed to him, full of the warmest expressions of 
admiration, esteem and affection ; eulogizing 
his eloquence, zeal, prudence and truly chris- 
tian spirit ; and expressing ardent wishes for 
his future prosperity and happiness. 

Mr. Thompson was in Glasgow on the first 
of March, at the second annual meeting of 
the Glasgow Emancipation Society, and of 
course participated in the exercises, and was 
greeted by the assembly with the customary 
tribute of applause. Honorable mention was 
made of his name, both in the speeches de- 
livered, and the resolutions adopted on that 
occasion, and also in the Society's * Address 
to the Ministers of Religion and the Friends 



INTRODUCTION. XllI 

of Negro Emancipation,' dated on the 10th 
of the followinor month. 

On Monday, the 28th of March, he arrived 
at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and in the evening, 
lectured to a very numerous audience, on 
American slavery. It may not be amiss to 
state here — since one of the charges against 
Mr. T. is, that his whole employment in Eng- 
land is to slander and vilify this country — 
that * in every lecture,' as he declares in a 
letter to Mr. Garrison, he strives ' to do full 
justice to America, by referring to the many 
noble and mighty institutions to which she 
has given birth, and to her unexampled and 
unbounded facilities for greatness and useful- 
ness.' In the lecture just mentioned, a New- 
castle paper says, that * he spoke of the United 
States, in terms which, if transferred to his 
own country, would be a high panegyric' 

A few brief extracts from the letter to Mr. 
Garrison, will show his farther operations in 
Newcastle. 

* Tuesday, 29th. Had the unspeakable 
honor of being entertained as the advocate of 
the negro, at a splendid tea-party in the spa- 
cious Music Hall. About 600 persons were 
present. The widely known and justly be- 
loved bard of Negro Freedom, James Mont- 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

gomery, was present and delivered a tlirilling 
address.' 

* Wednesday, 30th. By particular request, 
pleaded tlie cause of the London Missionary 
Society, with special reference to the Society's 
operations in the West Indies.' 

* Thursday, 31st. Attended a great meet- 
ing of the Anti-Slavery Society, at which the 
Society was re-organized, and became the 
* Newcastle-upon-Tyne Society for the ex- 
tinction of Slavery and the Slave Trade 
throughout the world.' 

* Friday, April 1st. Had the privilege of 
advocating the cause of Temperance in the 
Friends' meeting-house, which was far, very 
far too small for the numbers that flocked to 
hear.' 

At this meeting too, the British papers 
speak of the high praises which he bestowed 
upon America — especially for her zeal and 
success in the Temperance reformation. 

* Monday, April 4th. By special request, 
attended two meetings of the Wesleyan Mis- 
sionary Society. 

Wednesday, 6th. Held a very numerous 
meeting of ladies in the Friends' meeting- 
house. After an address of nearly two hours, 
a Society for promoting Universal Emancipa- 
tion was formed, and a host of ladies enlisted 
on the spot as contributors, collectors, distrib- 
utors of tracts, &c. &c.' 



INTROBUCTIOK, %f 

On Tuesday evening, the 5th, I went over 
to Sunderland, and again spoke on behalf of 
the Wesleyan Missionary Society.' 

* Thursday, 7th. Attended the annual 
meeting of the Peace Society, in Newcastle, 
and spoke for nearly two hours in favor of 
radical peace principles,' 

Of all these addresses, this volume con- 
tains only that given to the Peace Society^ 
which will be found commencing on the 109th 
page. From the marked and emphatic ex- 
pressions of approval with which this was re- 
ceived, and from the comments upon the 
speeches and the speaker, contained on page 
108, the reader may infer what the people of 
Newcastle think of Mr. T.'s character, intel- 
lectual and moral. 

On the 1st of June, and again, by adjourn- 
ment, on the SOth, Mr. Thompson addressed 
a very large assembly at Rev. Mr. Price's 
chapel in London, on the subject of his Amer- 
ican mission, and in vindication of his treat- 
ment of Dr. Cox, at the second Anniversary 
of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Here, 
as everywhere else, he was received with the 
strongest manifestations of approbation, and 
the verdict of the audience was evidently most 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

decidedly in his favor, and condemnatory of 
the conduct of Dr. C. vj^hich, on the occasion 
just alluded to, he had so severely rebuked. 

Besides the meetings at which Mr. Thomp- 
son was present, this volume contains the pro- 
ceedings of one held at Birmingham last fall, 
(while he was still in this country,) at which 
the West India Apprenticeship was discuss- 
ed, and its abolition, and the substitution for 
it, of immediate and entire emancipation, was 
strenuously advocated by the several speak- 
ers. 

The contents of the volume having been 
received from time to time in detached por- 
tions, and very irregularly, and put in type as 
they came to hand, are not arranged in the 
chronological order of events. To supply, in 
some measure, this deficiency, the several 
meetings have been noticed in this introduc- 
tion, in the order in which they occurred. 

C. C. BURLEIGH. 

Boston, Sept. 1836. 



GREAT 

ANTI-SLAVERY MEETING, 

AT BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND. 

At a public meeting- of the inhabitants of the 
Borough of Birminghan), held at the Town Hall, 
on Wednesday, October 14, 1835, Paul Moon 
James, Esq. High Bailiff, in the Chair, ' To take 
into consideration the cruel oppressions and ag- 
gravated sufferings to which the negroes are still 
subjected in our Colonies under the name of Ap- 
prenticeship, notwithstanding the enormous sum 
of twenty millions sterling granted to the West 
Indians by the British Parliament — also to con- 
sider the propriety of presenting a Memorial to 
Lord Melbourne, and the adoption of such Reso- 
lutions as the Meeting may deem expedient.' 

The Chairman, in opening the business of the 
meeting said, whatever difference of opinion 
might liave existed, as to the mode of getting rid 
of slavery, there was none whatever as to the ne- 
cessity of the measure itself. All were agreed 
that slavery ought to be abolished altogether. It 
■was this feeling unanimously expressed through- 
out the nation that operated on a willing govern- 
ment, and which induced them to proclaim the 
triumph of humanity in the emancipation of the 
2 



14 GREAT MEETING 

negroes. Many excGllent men blamed the gov- 
ernment for the money given in compensation. 
He, ibr one, must say, he thought the compensa- 
tion just to this country — England had been a guil- 
ty nation, and it appeared but just that she should 
Bhare a portion of the punishment. Entertaining 
these sentiments he agreed to the measure as a 
sin offering for the guilt of the nation. It had 
been the habit of his life to endeavor to pursue a 
moderate course, and after long experience he had 
found it the best; therefore, on this occasion he 
■would recommend a course of moderation. In a 
few short years the slaves would be entirely free, 
and in the possession of all those blessings to 
U'hich they were entitled. The government were 
of this opinion, and if the people did their duty, 
and called upon the Legislature to do theirs, they 
would, no doubt, do it fearlessly, and after all, the 
event was in tiie hands of Providence. (Loud 
cheering,) 

Joshua Scholefield, Esq. M. P. in presenting 
the first resolution, expressed the regret he felt, 
and that of every friend of humanity, at the dis- 
appointment of their just expectations with regard 
to the clause respecting apprenticeships. It was 
the understanding on the part of the abolitionists 
that the period of apprenticeship was to have been 
coercion of labor iJi its mildest Jorni, similar to 
what constitutes the service of apprenticeship in this 
country ; whereas, it had been made, on the con- 
trary, by the planters, a period for an increased 
exaction of labor, by which the slave-owner gets 
out of the bones and sinews of the negro, the la- 
bor of fourteen years. He differed in opinion 
with those who thought no compensation ought to 
have been made to the owners of slaves, for the 



AT BIRMINGHAM. 15 

laws of tliG country Iiad sanctioned the traffic in 
human flesh and human blood, and the man who 
had invested his money in the horrible trade, was 
as much entitled to the protection of the law, as 
he who made an investment in any other article 
of le<Talised commerce, although, for his own parf, 
so great was his abhorrence of tiiis inhuman deal- 
infT, that lie should prefer to be a slave rather than 
be an owner of slaves. (Cheers.) 

The Rev. Mr. Marsh seconded the resolution, 
and after a few prefaratory remarks, said, there 
was but one feeling pervading that meeting, and 
that was, that their fellow-men and their fellow- 
citizens should enjoy the same liberties as them- 
selves. (Applause.) Why was the balance of 
power in Europe considered so essential — why, to 
prevent the power of the multitude from tramp- 
ling upon the rights and liberties of the {"cw. — 
(Cheers.) What, he would ask the Chairman, was 
the object of the meeting? Were they met that 
night to advocate the liberty of the Slave ? Why 
he thought that the public opinion of the nation 
and twenty millions of money had secured it; but 
it appeared he was mistaken : the JVegro was still 
ill slavery, and all their labor had been in vain. It 
had been asserted, that there was a danger in 
emancipating the Slave, because he was likely to 
abuse his liberty. This he considered most falla- 
cious reasoning, because it was applicable to eve- 
ry man who abused any favor conferred upon him. 
In the committee, the other day, they had had a 
discussion on the word indi^^j^nation. supposing it 
to be too strong a term, but he did not vote for 
the omission of the word ; for, he felt the utmost 
indignation on reflecting that after the sacrifice 
of twenty millions of their money the same state 



16 GREAT MEETING 

of things existed in the Colonies. He stood not 
now in America, where the professors of liberty 
would not alloio him to open his mouth. (Cries of 
• sljame, shame.') He stood before John Bull, who 
•was an honest and right-feeling fellow. He would 
give more money to do good than the rest of the 
world, but he did not like to be cheated. (Hear, 
hear.) They had met together that evening to 
ask what had been done with their money, and to 
declare publicly that if the twenty millions which 
they had given for the liberty of the Negroes was 
not properly applied, they would not sit down 
content under the injustice. [The Rev. gentle- 
man, after an appropriate speech, concluded by 
seconding the resolution, which was carried unan- 
imously.] 

Mr. George Edmonds came forward and was 
received with loud cheering. He agreed with the 
High Bailiff that the abolition of Slavery had 
been determined upon by the people of England, 
but what was the fa«t ? Was Slavery abolished ? 
JVo, it ivas not. He was quite sure they would 
hear that night from gentlemen in the meeting, 
that so far from its being abolished, they had still 
an apprenticeship of slavery:^ and that the friends 
of the negroes were now in that position which 
rendered it necessary to start again. He was 
surprised to hear the chairman talk of the triumph 
which they had achieved. It was true it was a 
triumph of virtue on the part of the people, who 
had determined on the emancipation of the slaves ; 
but if all he had heard and read upon the subject 
was correct, there could be no doubt but all their 
efforts had been frustrated. The slavery now 
practiced was real slavery, and hence he was 
warranted in saying that in point of fact the peo- 



AT BIRMINGHAM- 17 

pie had not obtained any triumph : it ivas nothing 
more than a mere delusion. The chairman had 
said that England was a guilty nation. To this, 
in the sense implied in the observation of that 
gentleman, he could not subscribe. Were the 
people of England guilty, because they stood by 
before the passing of the Reform Bill, when they 
had no voice in parliament, and saw the system 
of slavery carried on ? No, they were not. 
Where, he would ask, was his, (Mr. Edmond's) 
guilt, when he had been incessant in his efforts to 
rouse the public feeling against it? Where was 
the chairman's guilt when he was writing eloquent 
poems upon the subject, and would, if possible, 
have inspired every human being with the same 
detestation of the system which he himself felt? 
(Cheers.) Would he not have given pounds to 
have been able to abolish slavery, and in doing so 
to gratify his own heart? Although, as he had 
said, it was a triumph of virtue, still he did not 
think that the people ought to have paid twenty 
millions of money for that triumph. (Cheers.) 
fVhat a villanous government it ivas, and ivhat an 
atrocious villain Lord Stanley tvas, to propose to 
give such a sum of money. The original intention 
was to give fifteen millions, and from some reason 
only known to the actors in the scheme, it was 
raised to twenty millions. He should like to have 
the whole afPiir investigated, and the reasons 
fully ascertained, why the people were compelled 
to pay that money. But they were a guilty na- 
tion! In what did their guilt consist? Why, 
they eat the sugar. Well, but did they not pay 
for it? They were a guilty nation only in not 
compelling the government to emancipate the 
slaves free of any expense either to themselves or 
the British public. He asserted the government 
2* 



18 GREAT MEETING' 

were the only guilty party, and not the people. 
(Hear, hear.) Well, they paid twenty millions, 
and this was called a sin-offering, and the people 
■were consequently the sinners. Did the people 
ever inflict the whip, or did they ever sanction 
such an inhuman practice ? No! they never did, — 
and he defied any man to show any connexion 
between the people and the system ; only that 
they did not rise up and knock down the Govern- 
ment who had dared to perpetuate such a disgrace 
to the nation. (Applause.) The people, however, 
so far from participating in the crime, were willing 
to make any sacrifice to remove the evil; and 
hence their tacit consent to such a lavish expen- 
diture to effect the object. They knew, it was 
true, that the slave-owners were devils, actuated by 
the basest avarice ; still, they thought that twenty 
millions would have satisfied them ; but what was 
their reward for thus liberally rewarding them .^ 
Why, a new and systematic plan of punishment 
had been adopted by them, and acted upon with 
the utmost cruelty. According to the present 
system, the child might now be separated from 
the mother! The negro who happened to lose 
half a day was compelled to work three days as a 
punishment; and the most villanous part of this 
regulation or law was, that the three days' labor 
thus imposed on the unfortunate being went to 
the planter, who often struggled to find out imag- 
inary faults in order to inflict a real injury. 
(Hear, hear.) If an unfortunate mother sat down 
in the fields, and was so inhuman as to spend half 
an hour in ministering to the wants of her infant, 
she was subject to punishment, — if one of the 
negroes rambled in the fields, he was to be pun- 
ished, — if he got drunk, he had to work four days 
as a punishment ; although, perchance, it might 



AT BIRMINGHAM. 19 

happen that the planter, for the base purpose of 
getting- this additional labor, might have made 
him drunk for the purpose. (Sliaine, shame.) By 
this base system of giving to the pla'iiter tiie truiis 
of the delinquencies of the negroes, every induce- 
ment was held out to the vilest scliemes, to entrap 
them into tije commission of what was ternied an 
offence. Again, if the negro used what was 
termed insolence, or expressed what might per- 
haps amount to no more than a genteel expression 
of dissatisfaction, he was subject to twenty-nine 
lashes. (Siiame.) Again, if one of them took a 
sugar-cane, he was liable to 250 stripes, or three 
months' imprisonment, and as a wind-up to this 
infamous system, if one of them was found carry- 
ing' a knife in his pocket without the permission of 
his master, he Avas subject to thirty-nine lashes. 
These were some of the laws under the new sys- 
tem, and lie would now put it to the meeting to 
say whether or not the people of England had not 
been completely humbugged out of the money 
Avhich they had paid. (Applause.) Notwithstand- 
ing, however, all this, s^entlemen had talked of 
moderation, fie was free to admit, because he 
believed it to be the fact, that the Chairman and 
Mr. Scholefield, who had talked of moderation, 
were influenced by a desire to conciliate all par- 
ties; but he unhesitatingly said, that if those gen- 
tlemen said what they really thought upon the 
subject, they v/ould not have talked of moderation. 
It was impr>ssible for any man acquainted with the 
history of negro slavery, — »'ho knew that a sacri- 
fice of twenty millions had been paid to get rid of 
it, — and who, after all, saw the system carried on 
with refined crueltv, to speak or think iviih moder- 
ation upon the subject. In conclusion he would 
say, Why did not the Government at once exer- 



20 GREAT MEETING 

cise their power, and put an end to the system ? 
Was it to be endured, that a set of villanoiis 
planters were to receive twenty millions of British 
money, and still persist in inflicting cruelties, 
which outraged every feeling of humanity ? 
(Cheers.) 

The Rev. J. Riland briefly proposed the next 
resolution. 

The Rev. J. Burnett next presented himself, 
and was received with loud cheers. He said that 
he fell pleasure in seconding the resolution that 
had just been moved, and in attempting to do so, 
he ought in the first place to apologise to the peo- 
ple of Birmingham for appearing before them as 
a stranger, upon a subject which has called to- 
gether so much both of the body and mind of this 
great town, although that subject was of such a 
character as must necessarily interest those who 
were strangers to them as well as those who were 
numbered among themselves. He had not, how- 
ever, appeared to-night as a volunteer, for he had 
been requested to come forward by the Society, 
that had convened the present meeting. He 
trusted, therefore, to receive all the kind indul- 
gence that this meeting would accord to one of 
its own fellow-townsmen, although he had not the 
honor to rank amongst them. (Cheers.) Indeed 
from every thing which he knew of Birmingham, 
he should at once conclude that the mere circum- 
stance of seconding a resolution connected with 
the rights of his fellow-men would be sufficient 
to secure to him their indulgence. (Hear, hear.) 
Without flattering them, for to flattery he had 
ever been an adversary, he would say that the 
kindness of Birmingham extended to every thing 



AT BIRMINGHAN. ' 21 

but despotism and tyranny, and long might Bir- 
mingham against those combined powers of dark- 
ness, raise its manly voice, until the sun shall 
cease to set upon a slave or rise upon a tyrant. 
(Loud cheers.) Having offered these reasons for 
at all appearing upon this occasion, he felt dispo- 
sed to take their advice, and he moderate, but he 
hoped they would allow him to be moderate in 
his own way. (Cheers and laughter.) He held 
it to be moderation to cry out when he saw men 
in possession of the minds and bodies and souls 
of their fellow-creatures — he held it to be mode- 
ration to €RY OUT when he saw the wretched fe- 
males still subjected to the lash — he held it to be 
perfect moderation to cry out when he discovered 
men attempting to throw something like the guise 
of a political creed over eight hundred thousand of 
his fellow-men laboring under oppressive bond- 
age. So far from remaining silent, had he a 
voice loud as the Atlantic wave, as it lashed those 
islands so Ions' stained with blood, he would Q-ive 
that voice its loudest emphasis in crying out 
againt the abominations of slavery. (Immense 
cheering.) These ivere his views of moderation; 
and when he discovered gentlemen sitting down 
with all the coolness of arithmeticians, calcula- 
ting the prices of men and the value of blood ; — 
looking to the children rising into life, and to the 
aged moving towards the tomb, and exclaiming 
with the voice of oppression, these are the men 
to be disposed of, and counting the number of 
their victims as they would the bricks and stones 
of the palaces in which they dwelt; (cheers) 
when he discovered this, and found the result of 
their calculations translated into memorials, and 
submitted deliberately and coldly to the Legisla- 
ture — when he discovered this, he held it to bo 



22 GREAT MEETING 

moderation to denounce the cool and deliberate 
wickedness of such men. (Cheers.) It might be 
asked if all those proceedings were really going 
forward, whef.her they had thus been carried on 
in past generations, and how it was that this cry- 
ing iniquity had been so long winked at ? There 
was a time, and Birmingham knew it well, when 
with those matters the nation had nothing to do 
— when men stood in the high places of honor 
behind the throne, directing the machines of gov- 
ernment, and when the nation was never consult- 
ed, and never knew any thing about the matter. 
But the British lion has at length been roused — 
he had shaken the dew-drops from his mane — 
the people had at length asserted their rights, and 
now, should any attempt be made to violate the 
liberties of the human race, he wouldat once ac- 
knowledge that the nation were guilty of the 
crime. (Cheers.) Now that they could see, and 
could hear and could give their opinion on what 
was doing — now that the curtain had been drawn, 
and that they could approach the pavilion of the 
Constitution, should they allow such injustice to 
be perpetrated, then indeed would they be verily 
guilty. It was to wipe away those stains that 
would otherwise rest upon them that they were 
assembled there that night, for the purpose of 
telling the Executive that they were moderate,hut 
that in the West Indies there were men so im- 
moderate that they could bear with them no lon- 
ger. (Cheers.) Their fathers knew nothing of 
the slave question, compared with the present 
generation ; but had they been ever so "well in- 
formed upon the subject, and had their voice been 
heard in the Legislature, some whipper-in would 
have been found to gather a majority against 
them, and the system would have gone on. 



AT BIRMINGHAM. 23 

(Cheers.) He would ask this meeting in its sound 
thinking as well as sound feeling, why the Act 
referred to that night had been allowed to pass 
into a law ? The reason was this — the nation 
was but arousing itself from its slumber — they 
were taken unprepared at the moment — they were 
led on by a lew, who felt their weakness, and 
stood undecided and trenibling, not knowing how 
far a people in these new and embryo circum- 
stances would consent to support them. He had 
no doubt if the friends of the Negro had felt the 
advance of the main body of the people at their 
back, they never would have accepted such an act 
as had been passed, nor would the legislature have 
had the temerity to propose it, and never have at- 
tempted to pass it. (Cheers.) Under these cir- 
cumstances, therefore, the act must be regarded 
as a matter of compromise — of compromise aris- 
ing out of the timidity of one party, and the cupid- 
ity of another. He did not wonder, therefore, 
that the act had found its way into being, but he 
was truly delighted to find such an assembly had 
come together for the purpose of revoking it. 
(Cheers.) Could there be greater criminals than 
those who persecuted their fellow men ? Why 
in legislating for the slaves did they enter into 
something like a commercial bargain, as if they 
had to do with honorable and honest men? In 
the West Indies, society was not like that of this 
country — there it had risen out of scenes of blood 
and generations of bondage — in blood it attained 
its maturity, in blood it 'moved, lived, and had 
its being.' (Loud cheers.) It was necessary that 
this should have been taken into account ; but the 
question was, with the framers of the measure, 
whether they should offend the planters by throw- 
ing surmises into the act against them. Common 



24 GREAT MEETING 

sense should have told them not to insult them, 
but commen prudence should have taught them 
enough of their history to take care of them. 
(Cheers.) Taking this view of the act, they might 
have expected that it would present something 
calculated to benefit the Negro. The act had for 
its object the freedom of the slave, compensation 
to the masters, and the industry and good conduct 
of the slaves for a time. These were the objects 
as stated in the act; and in dealing with such 
men, it might have been supposed that the Gov- 
ernment would have taken care to prevent them 
from abusing its provisions — one half of the act 
was occupied about the compensation of the plan- 
ters, but the same degree of care was not adopted 
to secure equal benefits to the negroes. Were 
Gentlemen aware that slaves could be sold, and 
were actually sold at the present moment? Were 
they aware that they could be handed over in 
legacies like money and cattle from one proprie- 
tor to another by the act itself? This was, how- 
ever, the fact, for the law still sanctioned the 
sale of human beings in the West India Colo- 
nies, under the name of apprentices. (Cries of 
'shame, shanie.') It was said that the appren- 
ticeship was for the benefit of the slave, inasmuch 
as it secured him employment, and it was asked 
what would become of him if he had not masters 
on whom he could depend ? The idea of sending 
them abroad about their business was considered 
horrible, and it was gravely asked under such cir- 
cumstances what would become of them ? Why, 
they would do precisely as the men of Birming- 
ham would do if they were sent about their busi- 
ness by their employers. Seek employment else- 
where and procure it, leaving their masters to 
starve upon the unwrought materials. There 



AT BIRMINGHAM. 5i5 

must be a working population or a starving one, 
and it was quite evident that the planters and 
slave-owners of Jamaica could not subsist with- 
out the labor of the slave, no more than the slave 
could live without the capital of his employer. 
The Rev, Gentleman here entered into an analy- 
sis of the Act of Parliament, relative to its ope- 
ration on the Slaves, and clearly proved that it 
was an Act framed for the exclusive benefit of the 
planter, to the injury of the unfortunate negro, 
whom it professed to relieve. The Rev. Gentle- 
man next detailed in eloquent and affecting lan- 
guage, the worthlessnese of the Act, alluding 
particularly to the cruelties inflicted on the Slave 
through the medium of the Special Magistracy, 
who, in nine cases out of ten, were willing in- 
struments in the hands of the slaveholder. In 
proof of this, he read an extract from the letter 
of a slave-owner to one of the Magistrates, in 
which he endeavored by every argument to in- 
duce him to resort to the most violent and brutal 
measures, for the purpose of punishing some un- 
happy Slaves, against wjiom he had conceived a 
dislike, for having neglected his orders. He 
thought, on the whole, the conduct of the friends 
of the Netrro, in now demandintr the final aboli- 
tion of the system, was perfectly moderate. They 
had done every thing in their oower to conciliate 
the planter, but they had found him incorrigible, 
and the British public must never again consult 
them in reference to the interests of the Slave. 
The planters had said, they had no right to take 
the Slave without paying them. The people con- 
sented, and gave them an average of nearly thir- 
ty pounds a-head, and yet these fellows turned 
round and said they were robbed, because they 
were not allowed to do as they liked with them. 
3 



26 GREAT MEETING 

He considered it now the bounden duty of the 
friends of the Slave to unite as before, tronm one 
end of the kingdom to the other, and to demand 
from the Legislature the fulfilment of the bar- 
gain which they had entered into, and never to 
cease from their exertions until they had effect- 
ed the full, complete, entire, and unqualified eman- 
cipation of the Negro. (Loud cheers.) The? 
Rev. Gentleman, after a powerful speech of which 
the above is but an outline, concluded by second-- 
ing the resolution. 

The Rev. Robert B. Hall, of Boston, wa^ 
here introduced to the meeting, as one of the 
original twelve who had formed the first Abolition 
Society in the United States. After a few ob- 
servations, the Rev. Gentleman proceeded to say 
that he was an American. (Cheers.) Ho was 
proud of his country, but he had no sympathy 
with her crimes, and least of all thatcrime which 
converted the image of God into a brute. He 
was grieved to acknowledge that his ovvn coun- 
try stood prominent in this guilt; and in making 
this acknowledgment he did not love America 
less, but he loved the cause of liberty still more. 
(Cheers.) He could not but recollect there were 
that night two millions of his fellow-citizens 
groaning in bondage, who expected him as a con- 
sistent American, to be their advocate. He should 
now go into some facts interesting to the audience 
before him, in reference to the state of slavery in 
America. The Rev. Gentleman here entered 
into the history of Anti-Slavery Societies, which 
commenced immediately after the declaration of 
American Independence, and had since continued 
to increase in numbers and in influence. He 
gave a melancholy picture of the enormities at 



AT BIRMINGHAM. 'Z i 

present perpetrating in that country, the particu- 
lars of M'hich have already appeared in the public 
prints. He came before them as the advocate of 
the American Slaves, and he trusted that the ex- 
ample now set by England would operate upon 
America, and at last compel them to the adoption 
of a full and complete measure of emancipation. 
If England would but do its duty, slavery would 
soon cease to exist. [We regret that our limits 
preclude the possibility of giving more than a 
faint outline of the Rev. Gentleman's speech, 
which was received with marked approbation 
throughout.] 

Tin Rev. J. Scoble, Secretary to the London 
Anti-Slavery Society, in an animated speech, 
spoke to the resolution ; and in doing so referred 
to the history of Slavery in the Colonies. He 
took a rapid view of the measures brought for- 
Avard by Government, and deprecated in strong 
terms the trickery resorted to by Lord Stanley, 
for tlie purpose of obtaining the enormous sum of 
money of the disposal of which they had that 
evening beard so much just complaint. The 
Rev. Gentleman concluded by drawing an affect- 
ing picture of the present wretched state of the 
Negroes in the West Indies, from which it ap- 
j'.eared that their condition was in many respects 
Averse than under the old system. 

The Rev. T. Swax, in seconding the resolu- 
tion, said that, on this question tliere could not 
be a dissentient voice. All who were in the least 
degree acquainted with the subject must be of 
one mind, and make known to the friends of the 
Negro throughout the empire the dark and affect- 
ing circumstances of the case. Blessed be God, 



28 GREAT MEETING 

in their highly favored country the friends of the 
Negro were to be found. Britons were anxious 
that Slaves might cease to breathe in any part of 
the world ; they were unacquainted ivith an aris- 
tocracy consisting merely in the color of the skin^ 

AND THEY DESPISED THAT CANTING AND DAS- 
TARDLY REPUBLIC ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE 

Atlantic, which boasted its love of liberty, and 
respect for the rights of man, whilst at the same 
time it held in the most degrading bondage, and 
shut out from celestial knowledge, from two to 
three millions of its subjects. (Loud cheers.) In 
reference to the new system of Slavery in their 
own Colonies, he would say — what a delusion! 
How mortifying ! how miserably had they been 
disappointed — how completely had the benevo- 
lent designs of the humane been thwarted on that 
day, when the slaves were brought under the ha- 
ted Stanley scheme of Apprenticeship — (loud 
cheers) — a system which had proved to be w^rse 
than Slavery, Tjjore. i^j'/e than slavery; — a system 
of the most refined cruelty. Such was l)is opinion 
of the system, that he believed Satan himself must 
have been at the right hand of the man ivhen the 
infernal plan ■presented itself to his disordered im- 
agination. (Cheers.) The horrid facts in the 
case must be blazoned forth throughout the length 
and breadth of the land — facts which required 
only to be known to call forth general indigna- 
tion. He concluded by expressing his conviction, 
that the Christians of Birmingham would not be 
silent — they would speak out — they would cry 
aloud, and their voice would be h.eard in the Sen- 
ate ; it would enter the ears, and he trusted, would 
move the heart of their King ; it would go out to 
the ends of the earth ; it would be heard in the 
islands of the West ; it would cause the slaves 



AT BIRMINGHAM. 29 

to rejoice, the missionaries to triumph, and the 
tyrants to tremble — (cheers) — it would he heard in 
slave-cursed America, and the painted hypo- 
crites would quail, and be convinced that they re- 
quired a REVIVAL indeed. (Cheers.) To the men 
of Birmingham, as the principal agitators, Britain 
was indebted for the Reform Bill, and would they 
be silent so long as Slavery continued in any part 
of the world. No! the thunders of their united 
voices, raised in indignation, would roll onward 
till the slaves were freed from the galling yoke 
of an unnatural despotism. [The Rev. Gentle- 
man concluded amidst loud applause.] 

The Rev. J. A. James next presented himself 
to the meeting, and was received with enthusias- 
tic cheers. He said that the resolution which 
had been moved by Mr. Swan, and which he was 
requested to second, arose by natural and neces- 
sary consequence out of that which preceded it, 
for if it were indeed a fact, which abundant evi- 
dence from various and independent sources prov- 
ed that it was, that the Apprenticeship Act, in- 
stead of being a measure of relief to the Negro, 
had been used as an instrument of cruelty ; if 
the stipendiary Magistrates sent out to be the ex- 
positors and defenders of his rights had become 
his oppressors ; if females were still exposed and 
flogged, and the men suffered corporeal punish- 
ment contrary to law ; if the Colonial Legisla- 
tors were pertinacious in resisting all the benefi- 
cial operations of the Imperial Act, and discover- 
ed a perverse ingenuity in thwarting all the be- 
nevolent intentions of the mother country — then 
what remained for that meeting to do, but to be 
satisfied no longer with remedial palliatives and 
half measures, but to go back at once to the po- 
3* 



30 t;RF,AT MEETING 

aition they formerly occupied, from, lohich ihey 
had been lured in an evil day, and demand for the 
Negroea, immediate, complete, and unconditional 
emancipation. (CheciH.) lie was quite aware 
that it vvaa a hold, decisive, and to many doubt- 
leaa, a startling reqiiirement, to ask for the aboli- 
tion of an Act, which had cost this country twen- 
ty million sterling, wiiich had so recently been 
passed witli all tlie most impressive formalities of 
a British Leirislatiire, which had been considered 
the great charter of Negro liberty, and a mighty 
achievement of English benevolence. (Cheers.) 
But, ht was hold enough to ask for this hold mea- 
sure, and he wished the meeting distinctly to un- 
derstand, that this was the object of the resolu- 
tion now waiting its adoption. He was quite a- 
ware that he should he mot with the objection 
that such a measure would bo a direct breacii of 
national faith, for so indeed It was viewed by 
some. He would be one of the last men to ad- 
vise the attempt to do away with the Act, if such 
a step involved any compromise of principle, or 
brought any stain upon our national honor. 
(Cheers,) It is true when he first read the plan 
of Lord Stanley, lie threw it down with indigna- 
tion and exclaimed, rather than accept so partial 
a measure, he would fight the whole battle over 
again. (Cheers.) But still, had the Colonists 
faithfully and with good intention fulfilled their 
part of the contract, he would never liave asked 
for its being set asid(!, but would have quietly 
waited for the expiration of its tf-rm. But when 
instead of this, they received it in the first in- 
stance with the surly proiul of disappointed tyran- 
ny, and since then they had extracted much of the 
little honey it contai nod, and envenomed its poison ; 
since they had employed all the gubtleties of law 



AT BIRMINGHAM. 31 

and all the chicanery of legislation to nullify its 
beneficial provisions, since she had passed acts 
contrary to its spirit and design, he felt no deli- 
cacy in going up to the Legislature, and asking 
them to tear it in pieces, and scatter it to the winds 
of heaven. Faith had been broken, notoriously, 
publicly and shamelessly broken ; but by whom? 
By the Colonists. The apprenticeship Act had 
failed in its object, and ought to he repealed. For 
what was that object? let it be loudly repeated, 
and emphatically declared, that this object was 
not to pay twenty millions to the planters. This, 
it is true, was one of its provisions and enact- 
ments, but not the main object of the bill ; but its 
great design was, to give a measure of substan- 
tial freedom to the Negro, and to impose no more 
restrictions than were necessary to carry it into 
safe and easy operation. This then had signally 
failed, and the delusive statute ought to be imme- 
diately annulled. He congratulated his fellow- 
townsmen on the honor, of which they may be al- 
most proud, of being the first town in the empire 
that had raised its public and indignant voice a- 
gainst the present state of our Negro fellov/-sub- 
jects ; they had given the key-note to that chorus, 
loud and deep, of sympathy for the Negroes, and 
resentment against their oppressors, which was 
about to be raised, he hoped, through the length 
and breadth of the land. Let them go on to take 
an interest in this cause. They had liberty, they 
enjoyed it, and would suffer no man to take it 
from them. 

Captain C. R. Moorsom, R. N. said, that after 
the statements which had been submittnd to them 
that evening, of the effects which had resulted 
from the Apprenticeship Scheme, he could not 



32 GREAT MEETING. 

refrain from saying a word or two upon the sub- 
ject. Tlie good-natured Lord Althorpe had as- 
sured them that whenever the measure was 
brought forward, it should be a useful and satis- 
factory one. And was it so ? (Cries of No, No.) 
He was happy to perceive, however, the deter- 
mination manifested by the meeting to persevere 
until the system was totally abolished. He trust- 
ed, when the gentleman who had given the no- 
tice of a motion on the subject in the ensuing 
Parliament, brought the question again before 
his country, that he would be backed by the mor- 
al sense and moral power of the people ; and 
should he encounter that subtle enemy of the col- 
ored race, — that apostate Whig, — that recreant to 
liberty, — Stanley ; — hand to hand, foot to foot, 
with an unflinching mind, and unfluttering heart, 
he shall there meet him and convince him that it 
is as futile as dishonorable, to attempt to stop the 
progressof negro emancipation. (Cheers.) While 
he felt fully confident of the triumphs of justice 
and of mercy, he also felt assured that every con- 
trivance would be had recourse to by the planters 
to weave round the negro the meshes of slavery ; 
and would he not have the power to do so, as no 
doubt he would have the will? (Cheers.) Capt. 
Moorsom concluded by moving the fourth resolu- 
tion. 

The meeting occupied from six in the evening 
until ten, and during the whole time the utmost 
interest was manifested by the immense assem- 
bly. 



SOIREE. 



Monday, a Soiree was held in tlie Monteith 
Rooms, Buchanan street, in honor of Mr. George 
Thompson, the enlig-htened and uncompromising' 
advocate of Negro Emancipation. At seven 
o'clock, the large and splendid hall was crowded 
with a brilliant assembly, awaiting in anxious ex- 
pectation the illustrious individual Avhom they 
were met to honor. Shortly after the hour, he 
entered the room, accompanied by several mem- 
bers of the Glasgow Emancipation committee and 
their friends, among whom were the Rev. "Dr. 
Kidston, Rev. Messrs. Anderson, King, and P. 
Brewster, of Paisley ; Messrs. James .Johnston, 
R. Kettle, &c. &c. The reception of Mr. George 
Thompson was beyond description, and forcibly 
exhibited how highly the assembly appreciated 
the valuable services he had rendered to the glo- 
rious cause of emancipation. The applause hav- 
ing subsided, it was moved that on account of the 
absence of Dr. Wardlaw, W. P.Paton,Esq. should 
take the chair, and the motion having been carried 
by acclamation, 



34 MOIliHK. 

Tlio ('iiAiitiviA.N Hilid ho wiiH f;.\coo(liii;i;Iy sorry 
l.liat Dr. Wiirdluvv Imd bt'f.'M prevented by dorncH- 
t.ic iiillic.t.ioii IroiM prcNidiii;^ iirii()ii;>; t.lictn, iin iitid 
b«J(;ri iiiliiiiiilrd. lli; r(M_>r<'l,l,(«d tlii; MbH(!iic,(! ofiui 
uctivo !uid /(iiilnii:-! rri(!ii(l oI'iIk; ciuihi;, wliic.h llicy 
AVIUM,' iii(;l. !.(» hidior, in tlnj iMirson of one of ilM 
inoHt diH!iii^MiiHli(Ml iidvocatcM, b(3cai]K(! he would 
have Jilli.'d ho much bi'ttf.'r tho horiorablo ollico to 
which they had iippointed hiiri. For iiitMHidfit' ho 
ini^fht biy ehiiiri iii uny dci^rfMj to the hoii(»r, it 
WIIH Iroiii his hiiviii'i h)ii<i; hiMiii ihe advociitc ol' 
iVcjodotri — iJiiiverMiil troiHloin. (('heern.) And il" 
liny thinjr coidd (Micourniro liitn to uiidertiilu; \\u: 
diitioH ol' the onice it woidd bo to Hee, oti hjokiii;^' 
round him, ho many coiintenanceH in which he 
conhl read that their uymputhietJ were uniLed in 
thu uume Jioly cause. 

The Rov. Wm. Anokhsoiv, in rirtinf; to move ilio 
firnt resolntien, was rec('iv(ui wiili hnid cht-erin;,'-- 
Jlo Hpoke nearly an I'oHowh. VVh(!n our excenent 

ffiieHt iirHt appounul amonjr iih, it wan wilh a warm 
leart; ho raujo to hearlH mm warm- warm with 
Hympalhy lor l\n' allliclcd Neijro, and warm with 
zea! lor the hr(.akinf.f of his bondn. in tlu s(» (tir- 
<MimHtan«.eH, one meetin/4" wan enou;(h to unite uh, 
<.)ne Htroke waH en<mjrh to weld the ^rlouin;^ nui- 
teriaJH into iin indiHsoluble brotherhood. The 
HtMitinuMJtH of IVifMulship wo hav(! conceived for 
liim, are, no doubt, to I)e ascribed chii'fly to that 
conununily <d" Hympathy to which I have just ad- 
verted. IJut I leel I wiuild be duiu^,'' injuslice lo 
Mr. T., were I to ascrd»e it (uitiridy to tiuit cauHo. 
JMh perHonal, indivi(bnil, (piiililicationM havt^, iin- 
tU)nl)t(Mlly, had ;.!friM>t indueiuM! in th(! matter. I 
refer not to Ida intellecHMd (puililiculions. Huch 



flOIREE. 35 

gifts, unless connected with moral qualities, make 
Jio coiKincst of the lnjart. VVJjit, then, in the ciisc 
of our fri(Mul in this rc^Hpocl? Ho camo uiiumo- 
us witii powers of discussion, powers of debate, 
powers of analyzing evidence, powois of classify- 
ing evidence, j)owers of exposing it, powers of 
confiiming it, i)owcrH oi rr;a.suning, ))o\vors of de- 
clamation, powers of liU(Mor to make us huigii, 
powers of pathos to make ns weep, powers of lire 
to stir us up to vengeance, powers as varied as 
those of the lyre of Timotheus, and of greater 
strength — (enthusiastic chtM-rs,) JSncii j)ow(!rs, 
that w(; all at onct; gave way, and put him in llie 
iirst ])l;ic(% that of the elder hrolher of t)ur I'iman- 
cipatiou family — the Captain of our great moral 
enterprise. (Renewed cheering.) And how did 
lie bear himself undiir these honors? Did his 
morality break down? ])id any of us ever sec 
any symploni ol'sell-c'onceit in him, or of niu-tnred 
vanity ? Did any oi' us ever feel he had cause 
for complaining of his presuming over liim? 
Never. We have indeed seen his eye, that which 
his Maker gave him to be used for holy purposes, 
gathering fire and sparkling with the c-onscious- 
ness of the power of the thunderholt which Ik^ was 
forging within his bosom for the destruction of 
his adversary; but Avhen he had launched it, 
and scathed him, and prostrated him, could we 
gatlier from any e.\))rcssion eitlu^rof word or lo(df, 
that he took personal consiupuMice to himself for 
what he had done ? (('lie(!rs.) No, all tlu^ expres- 
Bion was, the Slave has done this Ibr you, 8ir ; but 
for iiim I would not injure a feeling of your heart. 
It is this destitution of personal vanity, J am con- 
vinced, in V(M-y trying circmnstances, which has 
won for our friend the peculiarly tender (^ndc^ar- 
ment with which we all regard ium. The time 



36 SOIREE. 

came, when the battle having been fought for th© 
Negroes of our own Colonies, that spirit which 
first carried us into the field, and which acquired 
strength during the conflict, sought for other ad- 
ventures of benevolence. It is a spirit which will 
not be at rest, so long as there is a slave on the 
earth. (Cheers.) Our attention was turned to 
America, and dearly as we loved Mr. Thompson, 
and perilous although the adventure was,we grudg- 
ed him not to the oppressed of that land. It appear-* 
ed perilous from the beginning. In these perilous 
circumstances we sent lorth our friend ; and now 
that he is with us again in health and life, let us 
bless God for his preservation. What has he ac- 
complished ? We expect much. We had had 
experience of his talents, his zeal, his fortitude, 
and of his prudence too. For, notwithstanding 
the ardor of his mind, and the provoking circum- 
stances in which he managed our own cause, who 
ever heard an ungentlemanly expression drop 
from his lips ? High as our confidence was in 
him, he has labored to an extent far beyond our 
calculation ; and far beyond our calculation has 
been his success. He has kindled a flame in 
America, it is said, which will not be extinguished. 
This is not the correct representation. He has 
gone with the torch of liberty throughout its for- 
ests, kindling it at a tliousand points, and soon it 
will be a universal conflagration. According, 
then, to the motion which I am about to make, let 
us unite in bles^^ing God for our friend's achieve- 
ments, and that, through perils he is among us to 
be employed as God, and we under God, may 
afterwards see fit to determine. (General cheer- 
ing,'which lasted for some time.) 

*rhe motion was seconded by Mr. Patrick Le- 
them, and agreed to by enthusiastic acclamation* 



SOIREE. 37 

Mr. Thompson, on rising-, was greeted with the 
most enthusiastic applause, which was renewed 
again and again. On its subsiding, he observed 
that he well recollected the feelings which, on a 
similar occasion to the present, about two years 
ago, had embarrassed and well nigh overpowered 
him, nor were his emotions on the present occa- 
sion less calculated to embarrass and paralyse. 
You have been listening with delight, continued 
Mr. T., to the extraordinary eloquence of my 
friend — if there be anything by winch I am more 
affected than another — if there be any sounds that 
fall on mortal ears, which thrill my mind more 
than others, they are the sounds of eloquence, and 
such eloquence as that to which we have now 
been listening. But in proportion to the delight 
with which, under other circumstances, I should 
have listened to my friend, has been my distress 
on this occasion. His eloquence has been devot- 
ed to the multiplication and to the magnifying of 
my merits and my abilities. His splendid tribute 
I know not how to acknowledge, because, in sin- 
cerity, I renounce all claim to the panegyric ; but 
while I renounce all claim to the praise our friend 
has bestowed on me, let it not be supposed that I 
am insensible to the kindness and to the confi- 
dence in me that has prompted it. There is only 
one thing which, next to the approbation of my 
conscience, and the approbation of my God, I 
prize above your approbation, and that is what I 
believe I have obtained — the blessing of the per- 
ishing. (Applause.) O, Sirs, if there is one thing 
which has rewarded me more than another, more 
even than your smiles and your repeated assur- 
ces of support, sent to me across the Atlantic, by 
those who have so steadfastly, so zealously, so 
undeviatingly managed the affairs of this Society, 
4 



38 SOIREE. 

it has been when traversing the streets of Boston, 
and New- York, and Philadelphia, to meet the 
black man with the tear of gratitude standing in 
his eye — to see and to feel that I had his blessing 
out of a full heart. I do not say more than what 
I feel when I say I would rather have the blessing 
of the outcast, the perishing, the persecuted negro 
of America, than to walk o'er rose-strewed paths, 
under triumphal arches, with the oppressor of the 
black man, crying Hosanna, Hosanna,in the high- 
est. (Great applause.) .That reward was what I 
sought, and I hope I did not do it even for that. 
I trust that in all my labors in America I have 
gone upon the principle upon which all here act 
when they do act, viz: because they are obliged 
to do it — obliged by their consciences, by a con- 
straint which is far higher and stronger, even by 
that great principle to which the apostle refers 
when he says, 'The love of Christ constraineth 
us, because we thus judge,' &c. (Applause.) Our 
friend has well said that the Mission was a peril- 
ous one. It was a perilous one, and you, at this 
moment, I believe, have no just conception of the 
perils to which all the friends of Abolition are 
called to pass through. They have not alone to 
sacrifice reputation, and honor, and fame, for they 
who have been at the very pinnacle of popularity 
suddenly fall into the depth of infamy ; but they 
have to face positive dangers, and the malice and 
false accusations of all the prejudiced and inter- 
ested. I was particularly marked out for their 
attacks because T was a foreigner, because I had 
come from a distant shore. In vain did I appeal 
to their splendid Missionary enterprises so deeply 
fixed on the aff'ections of the American citizens. 
In vain did I point them to those who were en- 
deavoring to Ptop the rolling car, and quench the 



SOIREE. 39 

funeral pile, and make the resplendent glories of 
the cross eclipse the crescent of Mahomet. (Rap- 
turous applause.) They contended that I was a 
foreigner, attacliing their political institutions, and 
they sought to banish me as a traitor and an in- 
cendiary. Yet, remembering what I had promised 
to you, and to my God, and to his suffering child- 
ren, I went forward. (Cheers.) Our friend has 
said, it has been a successful mission. Thank 
God it has been so. This night I call upon you 
devoutly to render thanks to him who has honor- 
ed our efforts with so much success, and who has 
blessed the humble endeavors of the humble indi- 
vidual whom you now honor. I keep within the 
bounds when I say that my mission has far trans- 
cended my most sanguine expectations. 

When I last parted from you I expected to be 
absent for a period of three years, but during the 
one year I have spent in America, much more 
has been effected than I believed would have 
been done at the end of three years — (loud cheers.) 
The whole country is aroused — every newspaper 
is discussing the subject — many of them ably and 
fearlessly taking the right side of the question. 
I may mention one, the New- York Evening Post, 
one of the ablest supporters of the existing ad- 
ministration. The whole population is roused ; 
every class, every condition, upon that wide 
spread territory are discussing the question — 
(cheers.) I did not think to see at the end of 
one year upwards of three hundred Anti-Slavery 
Societies, all energetic, composed of men and 
women devoted beyond the powers of any lan- 
guage I can employ to describe. I did not ex- 
pect so soon to see the servants of God of all 
denominations rising and putting on the harness 
in this sacred cause ; I did not expect, Sir, to see 



40 SOIREE. 

christian America, at the end of one year, already 
in the attitude of Sampson feeling for the pillars 
of the temple, that, lifting it from its foundation, 
it might tumble for ever to the earth. (Vehement 
cheering.) And yet that is the attitude of America 
at this moment,nor will it be long ere this Sampson 
grasps the columns of this blood-stained fabric. 
(Continued cheering.) The other evening when 
I was speaking of what the Methodists, and Pres- 
byterians, and Baptists, and Congregationalists 
were doing, and what the Unitarians were going 
to do, I did not recollect to say that those minis- 
ters of different denominations Avho have been 
brought over, were once prejudiced as strongly 
as were those whose documents I read to you, 
and the reading of which caused, I doubt not, 
your very flesh to creep. To corroborate this 
sentiment, Mr. Thompson read one or two ex- 
tracts from a letter which he had received from a 
respected minister in Boston, in which he solemn- 
ly renounced his former prejudices against the 
colored population, and pledged himself hence- 
forward to engage heart and hand in the great 
question of immediate emancipation. Mr. T. 
then concluded his eloquent speech, which was 
listened to throughout with the most intense in- 
terest, with the following well merited tribute of 
respect to Dr. Wardlaw and other zealous labor- 
ers in the same noble cause. I must, however, 
before I sit down be allowed to express my un- 
feigned regret that a domestic calamity should 
prevent us from having amongst us to-night our 
beloved friend Dr. Wardlaw, who has stood by 
this cause through evil and through good report, 
and who, though calumniated, defamed, traduced, 
has meekly, yet boldly, unostentatiously, yet un- 
flinchingly, advocated this cause. Oh, Sir, let us 



SOIREE. 41 

prize such men, let us love thcrr), let us remem- 
ber that the gfreat and the good are on our side, 
that the greatest and the best are with us, that 
the Wardlaws and the Heughs, and the Ander- 
sons, and the Brewsters, and the Kidstons, and 
the Kings, are on our side. You will remember, 
when I referred, at that tremendous meeting in 
another place, to the striking contrast between 
the supporters of him who has been endeavoring 
to accomplish your wislies in a distant land, and 
the supporters of another gentleman who has now 
the cabalistic initials of M. P., appended to his 
name. (Great laughter.) Then, I could stand 
forth and say, 'lam supported by those whom 
God supports,' and I am still so supported. I do 
not think I have lost a friend in Glasgow. I can 
only say I have done nothing to deserve to lose 
one ; and if I have offimded by being too faith- 
ful, I would still be faithful, and if I saw niy 
friends on earth dropping off like leaves in au- 
tumn, and 1 had no one to support me, I would 
still stand upon the rock of trutii and confide in 
the God of truth. I know, houever, you are still 
with me, you still richly reward me, and 1 belir^'e 
you will continue to labor along with mo till not 
only the Antilles shall be free, but until the Sonth- 
ern States of America shall be free, and all the 
other Slave-cursed districts of the world shall be 
free, until there shall not be on the circumference 
of the globe, one man yielding to the ruthless 
hand of a despot, an unwilling and sorrowful la- 
bor. (Loud "land long continued cheering.) 

Mr. Jas. Johnston- rose for the purpose of 
reading a letter addressed to the Ladies of Great 
Britain, by the Ladies Anti-Slavery Associations 
of New-England, signed by the accomplished, 

pious, and heroic President and Secretary, who 

4* 



42 SOIREE. 

SO admirably conducted their meeting, when sur- 
rounded by the s^entlemen savages of Boston. 
The letter was addressed to the Ladies, but he 
did not think that it would be necessary for the 
gentlemen present to shut their ears while he 
read it. It contained nothing which would be 
likely to make them esteem the fair sex less. 



To THE Women of Great Britaijt. 

Dear Friends, 

We write to you from the heat of a commotion, un- 
paralleled in our remembrance, and the scene we wit- 
ness, and wish we could find adequate words to de- 
scribe, is one of awful sublimity. 

But how can we embody so vast a subject in so 
slight a sketch as time permits ? How can we in a 
few words picture to your minds the awakening of a 
nation from a dream of Peace, and Freedom,and Glory, 
to a reality of Strife, and Slavery, and Dishonor ? 

Here are the noble few, half-spent, yet strong in 
heart, struggling to stay the headlong descent ot the 
many. Here are the frantic many rushing down to 
the abyss, with eyes yet closed, and brains yet under 
the influence of their feverish dream. Here are the 
miscalled wise and prudent, the mistaken, benevolent 
and compassionate, the imbecile and office-seeking 
Statesman, the time-serving and timid Clergy — the 
Wealthy, the Fashionable, the Literary, the blind- 
leaders of the blind, the self-styled religious, all join- 
ing to heap opprobrium and persecution upon those 
who would fain save them from the swift-walking de- 
struction that threatens our noon-day. 

Foremost among this band of steadfast hearted 
stands George Thompson. We fervently thank God 
who put it into the mind of Great Britain to send him 
to our aid. His piety and eloquence, his incorrupti- 
ble integrity, his devoted self-sacrifice, his unrivalled 
talents, have given a wonderful impulse to the cause. 



SOIREE. 43 

In proportion to his usefulness has the cry been rais- 
ed that he should * depart out of our coasts.' Now 
that his life is in danger from the assassin every mo- 
njent that he remains in this country, we, too, think 
it is time that he should depart. "What a revelation 
has the past year flashed upon our minds. 

Slavery has infected the life-blood and inflamed the 
heart of the nation. It is a literal fact that never a- 
mong the bloodiest race of the most persecuting age, 
was concealment more necessary to preserve the life 
of a defender of unpopular truth. Such a one has 
not merely assassination to apprehend — he holds his 
life and property at the mercy of a mob of those who 
call themselves the ' wealth and standing, the influ- 
ence and respectability of the country,' who are striv- 
ing to establish an aristocratic order of things, without 
those adjuncts and circumstances which in Europe 
seem to justify such an order. Scenes of outrage 
have become so common as to follow regularly upon 
the expression of our opinions. The spirit of north- 
ern Liberty is commanded to yield to the spirit of 
southern Slavery, and we are made to feel in our own 
persons that the violation of the rights of the black 
man has made the rights of the white man insecure. 
So simple a matter as the annual meeting of our so- 
ciety, caused the representatives of the slave interest 
in this city to rush to the spot in numbers, not less 
than 4 or 5,000, for the avowed purpose of putting a 
stop to the meeting, by taking the life of Mr. Thomp- 
son, who they conjectured was to address us. Not 
finding him, they seized Mr. Garrison, and his life 
was hardly saved by the most desperate exertions. 
Mr. Thompson has been for weeks a prisoner to his 
room. The abolitionists dare not allow him lo risk his 
life further. Notwithstanding their wrongs, they are 
true patriots, and independently of their fervent 
friendship to the man, and the deep sense of the value 
of his life to the cause, they shudder at the probabil- 
ity, that his blood may be upon the head of this peo- 
ple, if he remains longer. Even his wife and little 
ones are unsafe. These are horrible truths. We can 



44 SOIREE. 

find no words to express our sense of grief and indig- 
nation ; therefore, we make no comments. We are 
obliged to bear the sense of them constantly in our 
minds, and this is a severity of infliction which com- 
pels us to confess them. We do so with the hope that 
we may have your sympathy and your prayers, and 
in the confidence that every contemplation of the 
present crisis, will strengthen us to renewed exer- 
tions. One of your authors justly observes, ' the time 
of preparation for a better order of things, is not a 
time of favorable appearances. We see on reflection, 
that the state of a nation has changed for the better, 
when it has passed from deathly lethargy, though to 
convulsive life.' 

These considerations are for the present grievous, 
yet shall they yield the peaceable fruits of righteous- 
ness to them that are exercised thereby. It is not 
until the Angel troubleth the pool that it has virtue 
to heal the impotent who lie about it. Not until 
men's minds are hot in the furnace, that they yield 
to the weight of evidence and argument ; and we 
must not wonder that the blows of these appointed in- 
struments bringing out sparkles of fiery indignation. 

While the strong are thus engaged in endeavoring 
to soften and influence, we who are weak, are yet 
strong in purpose, to continue to use all righteous, 
christian, and suitable means, to effect the same great 
objects. Amid our many afflictions, we are sorrow- 
ing most of all, that we must see his face no more, 
whom you have sent to give us aid, strength, coun- 
sel, and courage. He has done all this mo'st effectual- 
ly, and is hunted for his life as his reward. But a 
different reward awaits him — the blessings and the 
thanks of every friend of human freedom, that now 
breathes, or ever shall breathe, on this Globe — the 
joy of the host of heaven over the multitudes his min- 
istrations have blessed — the command which, if ever 
mortal could, he may conlidently anticipate, to enter 
also into the joy of his Lord. 

Dear Friends, we boast a common ancestry and lan- 
guage ; our hearts and our hopes too are one. You, 



SOIREE. 45 

as well as ourselves, claim kindred with those ' de- 
vout and honorable women,' the puritan mothers of 
New-England. They were wont to commend them- 
selves to their friends in ' the love of Christ.' Do we 
not the same when we say, yours in the love of free- 
dom. 

In behalf of the Ladies' Anti-Slavery Associations 
in New-England. 

(Signed) MARY S. PARKER, President. 

Maria W. Chapman, Sec. For. Cor. 



The Rev. D. Kinof moved the second resolu- 
tion, expressive of indignation at the conduct of 
America, with regard to the slave population. In 
moving- this resolution, he wished it particularly 
understood that the indignation expressed, was 
solely on account of their errors. He disclaimed 
on his part all personal enmity to the American 
anti-abolitionists. He wished to act in accord- 
ance with that great scripture doctrine, which 
teaches us to hate sin, but to love the sinner, and 
endeavor through this affection to turn him from- 
the error of his way. And certainly there was 
much room for compassion with regard to the er- 
roneous notions entertained in America on this 
head. He pitied the slave master, for he was in 
a state of slavery more degrading than that of the 
poor negro. His bondage was that of the mind, 
and consequently was as much greater tlian the 
other, as mind was superior to matter. But how- 
ever much he might speak thus of the offender, he 
would not in any wise spare the offence. For 
should he speak in an indifferent spirit of the con- 
duct of the anti-abolitionists, then would he show 
that he had not a proper love for the benefits of 
freedom. He would protest therefore against the 



46 SOIREE. 

conduct of our brethren on the other side of tbe 
Atlantic, not alone on account of the evil itself, of 
which they were guilty, but also on account oi 
its consequences — on account of the injury to the 
cause of freedom from these acts being attributed 
by the enemies of human liberty, to their free sys- 
tem of government. When acts of cruelty are 
perpetrated in despotic countries — in Turkey for 
example, we would at once place it to the account 
of their system of government; but in America 
this could not be said with truth, and thus it came 
that their good was evil spoken of. Looking to 
the immediate results, it might seem as if it would 
be better to say less about this foul blot on the 
American character, but he was in this matter, as. 
in every other, determined to state the truth, and 
leave the consequence in the hands of the divine 
will. (Cheers.) Truth could afford to make many 
sacrifices, and although deserted by many minis- 
ters of Christianity! though Republican America 
was acting in express violation of the obvious dic- 
tate of its own constitution, yet still they could 
remember that there was one to defend the right 
cause — He, who in coming into this world said he 
carne to bear witness to the truth, and with Him 
on their side, they had no reason to be afraid. 
(Cheers.) But America had an excuse to make 
for her sin. It was ever so with sin ; there was 
always some excuse. If no other, there was at 
least that old one, 'the woman gave it me and I 
did eat.' (Cheers.) The Americans, then, defend- 
ing themselves, resorted to this excuse ; that it 
was not the fit time yet for emancipating their 
slaves. They were quite willing to make Ihem 
free, but the slaves were not prepared for free- 
dom. Here was a double wrong committed; for 
not only did they keep men in bondage, but pro- 



SOIUEE, 47 

tended that it was because they were not able to 
use their freedom aright. But if slaves in Amer- 
ica were unfit for freedom, who had been the 
cause of that ? If the slave masters were unwill- 
ing to use exertions in preparmg them for acting 
as freemen, who was to blame? If they would 
rot take pains to instruct them, so that they might 
exercise with propriety the simple boon of liberty, 
then the guilt and the folly rest upon their own 
heads. (Cheers.) Butit was impossible to believe 
that the Americans were speaking in earnest 
when they spoke thus, for surely we might think 
that if they hated slavery, and considered that the 
want of education was the only objection, they 
would endeavor to remove it as speedily as pos- 
sible. But it was easy to see that their preten- 
sions to liberality on this score were quite un- 
founded, as they had, instead of endeavoring to 
enlighten and expand the minds of these poor 
members of the human family, enacted that 
no one should teach a slave to read or write, 
under a very severe penalty. They also pre- 
tended that it was impossible for us on this 
side the Atlantic to form an idea of what slavery 
is in the United States. It was only by going 
over to that country, that they could view it as 
all very proper to maltreat the black population, 
(Cheers.) Among the many arguments by which 
the common people in America seek to justify 
their conduct; it was said that the skin of the 
blacks gave out an offensive odour, and that this 
was one cause of the prejudice entertained against 
them. But with regard to this point, av^o are not 
left to gather all our intelligence of them from the 
American slave owners. Some of them occasion- 
ally reached the shores of this country, and so far 
us he had learned of them, iho^o. who came here 



48 SOIREE. 

did not contaminate the atmosphere as they were 
charged with. Indeed, it was utledij impossible 
there could be any thing in the effiuvia proceeding 
from their bodies, or else the nobility and gentry 
icoidd not be so fond of black servants. (Cheers.) 
The fact was that what they complained of, did 
not belong to slaves at all ; it was after they be- 
came free that the smell was felt to be disagreea- 
ble. There was one thing, on account of which 
he felt glad, that they were able to stand up and 
feel in condemning the sin of America, that we 
were not self-condemned; that they could not 
say to us with truth, 'Physician, heal thyself.' — 
The Americans were ill pleased at this, however, 
for it showed from the example of our colonies, 
how safely emancipation might be effected, with- 
out any of those frightful consequences which 
were predicted as likely to follow the emancipa- 
tion of the slaves in the West indies. For sure- 
ly it cannot be said now, that there will be any 
danger from that quarter; and as little cause have 
the Americans to fear any of these terrible re- 
sults, which, according to many authorities among 
them, would most certainly follow the immediate 
emancipation of all the slaves in the United States. 
(Cheers.) If America would ft)llow his advice, ho 
would let the example of this country be copied 
by America in every thing save the clogcjing re- 
strictions. One galliivjf circumstance with re- 
gard to slavery in the United States was its being 
so frequently held up by the Tories as an argu- 
ment against liberal constitutions, and this covld 
never he satisfactorily ansnrred, vntil immediate, 
complete, and unconditional emancipation be ob- 
tained for the negro. (Cheers.) 

Mr. Kettle said, is it not a melancholy spec- 
tacle, Mr. Chairman, that in Republican Auieri- 



SOIREE. 49 

ca, which owes its origin as a nation to its having" 
been the refuge of the oppressed and persecuted 
puritans, and laying claim as it does to being a 
land of freedom — I say, Sir, is it not heart-sick- 
ening, that in such a country, claiming such a 
character^ practical oppression, civil disability, 
and social despotism, should be found legalized 
and domesticated as if to hold up to public deri- 
sion all that is sound in its civil polity, and all 
that is sincere in its profession of Christianity. — 
The fact, Sir, at first, no doubt, excites our aston- 
ishment, and perhaps our indignation ; but if we 
loolv back to its origin, we shall find more occa- 
sion for our pity and compassion. I do not stand 
up, Sir, as the apologist of Slavery or of Slave- 
holders ; were I to do so, every line of my motion 
would frown upon me, as well as every feeling 
of my nature. But, Sir, we should keep in mind 
that America had become a Slave-dealer, before 
she became her own mistress, and that her pres- 
ent circumstances are a part of the Colonial in- 
heritance left her by us. Would, Sir, that she 
had had the principle, and the wisdom, to do witq 
Slavery what she did with her allegiance to this 
country — to have cast it away from her forever, 
as unworthy of a land of freemen. Had the first 
act of her mdependence been the total abolition 
of slavery, 

'Hail, Columbia, happy land,' 

might then, Sir, and might now, have been said 
or sung with tenfold more truth. The love of 
mammon, however, unhappily overcame the lov« 
of justice; and as in every case, where the laws 
of God are set asidp, the perversity of man breeds 
and brings to maturity its own punishment, so has 
it been, and so will it be with America. As long 
5 



50 SOIREE. 

as she continues an oppressor, she may increase 
her population, she may extend her commerce, 
but there is a worm in the bud, which, if not de- 
stroyed, vvill blast her beauty, and bring her down 
to the dust of desolation. Her bondmen, like 
those in Egypt, iiave now increased, and the dif- 
ficulty of their liberation, viewed as a mere mat- 
ter ot profit and loss, has also increased; and, 
however much we in this country may be con- 
vinced of the propriety of their immediate eman- 
cipation, yet, we must keep in mind that many of 
the Americans view the niatter through a very 
different medium. They look at it. Sir, through 
a pair of moral spectacles, having one lens 
compounded of interest and avarice, and the 
other of pride and prejudice, both of which meet 
in a common focus causing croriked tilings to look 
strait, and abominable things bright and beauti- 
ful. It is upon no other principle that I can ac- 
count for the views and sentiments of Governor 
McDiiffie. They could not otherwise have come 
out of any human head liviuLr in a christian coun- 
try, in the 35th year of the 19th century of the 
ehristian era. What, Sir, is America to be told, — 
busy, bustling, canal-cutting, rail road-making, 
forest-clearing, city-raising, ship-building, every- 
wliere-penetrating America, — that domestic Sla- 
very is the corner stone of her commercial and 
political prosperity ? Is tlie sapient Governor to 
put on the spectacles I have referred to, and after 
reading certain select portions of the bible with 
them, to tell America, the country of Cotton Ma- 
ther, and Jonathan Edwards, and Timothy Dwight, 
and Edward Payson, besides a host of pious fe- 
males, whose biography has shed on it a lustre 
briL^htPr far, in our estimation, than that of its pol- 
iticians and pbiloeophers — that it is oae of the 



SOIREE. 51 

plainest appointments of God, an ordinance so 
distinctly instituted that it cannot be misunder- 
stood, that they must buy and sell, and beat and 
buffet their fellow creatures, and fellow christians, 
provided tliey happen to be a little dark in the 
complexion, and harness them like oxen, and put 
out the eyes of their understandings, and shut up 
their souls in perpetual darkness! Nay. Sir, that 
they are chalked off, by the the great father of 
the human family, the God of the universe, for 
that special end, colored and shaped for the very 
purpose ; and were they placed in any other posi- 
tion than that of slaves, the order of nature would 
be disturbed, and there would be an immense 
chasm in personal, social, and national morality ! 
After all, Sir, I feel a kind of respect for this Tiie- 
oloffical Governor. There is something down- 
right and straightforward about him, and I would 
far rather have a man honest in a had cause, than 
one who acknowledges its badness, and after a few 
extenuating huts, either pleads for, or passively 
submits to its continuance. This latter class of 
persons are the protectors of nearly all tlie legal- 
ized evils that exist in the world. They are the 
very body guard of corruptions, moral and politi- 
cal. They are always in the way of reform, rais- 
ing their barricadoes of opposition, admitting all 
the while, the correctness of your statements, the 
truth of your principles, yet holding in dread 
abeyance the application of the measures sanc- 
tioned by them. Such persons may be compared 
to ' damaged clocks, whose hands and bells dis- 
sent — conduct sings six, when conscience points 
at twelve.' Truly, Sir, they are objects of pity ; 
what an uncomfortable world this must be to them! 
They are doomed to a constant warfare b'^twixt 
custom and conscience. They are governed by 



53 SOIREE. 

something extrinsic to themselves, apart from 
their reason, and must go where the public opin- 
ion of their own little selfish circle may lead them. 
It is but natural, Sir, that a man's speculative 
opinionSjOr I might say, admitted principles, should 
be a little in advance of their full practical exhi- 
bition. We are so much creatures of habit, and 
so averse to condemn ourselves, by altering our 
opinions and practices, that conscience must raise 
a pretty loud clamor, before we listen to, and obey 
it. Let us therefore hope, Sir, that those who 
now remain neutral on this great moral question, 
will, without much further delay, disband their 
prejudices, and take up a position more becoming 
American citizens, to say nothing of christian 
character. 

I now come. Sir, to the last part of my motion, 
■which refers to a class who at all times demand 
our esteem and affection, and who at the present 
time have a peculiar claim on our aid, our admi- 
ration, our sympathy, and our prayers. I mean, 
Sir, the Christian Abolitionists of America. Upon 
them, under God, lies the work of ridding their 
country of this moral and spiritual pestilence. It 
was the Christian principle of this country that 
carried Emancipation here, and I am widely mis- 
taken in my opinion of the religion of America, 
if the same cause produce not the same effect 
there. Who can read the writings of GARRisori 
and BiRNEY, or hear of the faith and fortitude of 
the female abolitionists of Boston, and call this in 
question ? We cannot but admire them, or rath- 
er I should say, admire the grace of God in them. 
We have only to think what was lately our own 
circumstances, in order to sympathise with them, 
and to keep in mind that the heat of the furnace 
of their trial is seven-fold that of ours; and oh, 



SOIREE. 53 

let us not forget that as Christian brethren en- 
gag-od in a delicate and difficulr, but clfarly de- 
fined duty, they have a special claim on our pray- 
ers — that God may direct and sustain them — that 
they may carry about with them the spirit of 
Christ— pity for the oppressed, and prayer for the 
oppressor. We are far removed from them, and 
can help them but little, but God can help them. 
Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. 
He helped us in our late successful struggle, and 
has done great things for us, whereof we are glad. 
He can do the same for them. Let us therefore 
lift up our individual and nniied intercrssions to 
Him, in t!ie name of our Great High Priest, on 
their behalf, resting as*ur^•d that if we put our 
trust in Hini, in this matter, he will not allow our 
expectation to perish, and that America will yet 
stand forth among the nations of the earth, with 
head erect, free, not in name but in reality, re- 
ligious and happy. 

Mr. Thompson, on aijain presentinrf himself, 
was received with deafening cticers. Sir, it falls 
to my lotto close the proceedings of this joyous 
evening by acknowledging the compliment to 
myself, and the individuals with whom my name 
is associated, in the resolution just passed. It 
would be vain for me to attempt to pronounce a 
suitable eulogium upon the nnmes of Arthur 
Tappan and VVilliaim Lloyd Garrison, names 
now covered with infamy and reproach, but or- 
dained to stand out in imperishable characters a- 
midst the annals of American philanthropy. Mr. 
Tappan, though neither an orator nor an author, 
but a modest Christian, and a respectable mer- 
chant — had by his munificent donations been one 
5* 



54 soirce. 

of the main props of the cause of Aholition in 
America. Mr. Thompson then gave a very long" 
and interesting account of the commencement of 
Mr. Tappaii's acquaintance with Mr. Garrison, 
and their joint labors down to the present time. 
When the latter, five years and a half ago, lay 
incarcerated in a dungeon for exposing the hor- 
rors of American Slavery, the former, who, up 
to that time, had never seen Mr. Garrison, and 
scarcely heard of him, entering deeply into his 
wrongs, sent forward to Baltimore the amount of 
the fine, and redeemed the man who subsequent- 
ly became his closest friend, and the acknowl- 
edged champion of the glorious cause of Ameri- 
can Emancipation. (Great cheering.) Mr.Thomp- 
son related a number of anecdotes illustrative of 
the zeal, suff*eringR, and danger of Mr. Tappan, 
and then proceeded to speak in terms of the loft- 
iest admiration of his friend and fellow-laborer, 
Mr. Garrison. Mr. Thompson also read a part of 
a letter sent to him by Mr. Garrison, while he 
was at St. John. These extracts produced a 
deep sensation in the audience. The christian 
temper — the martyr-like intrepidity, and devout 
gratitude which breathed in every sentence, must 
have placed the Avriter high in the esteem and 
affections of all who Avere privileged thus to be- 
come acquainted with him. Mr. Thompson ex- 
pressed an earnest hope, that the man whose 
burning words he had just read, would one day 
speak for himself and his cause, before a Glas- 
gow auditory — (tremendous cheering.) After 
relating a variety of anecdotes, many of them 
highly interesting, — illustrating the safety of im- 
mediate emancipation — the capacity of the ne- 
gro — his pacific disposition—his gratitude towards 
his benefactor — and the folly and wickedness of 



SOIREE. 55 

the prejudice that seeks to sink him below hia 
legitimate rank amongst the family of God, con- 
cluded by reminding iiis friends around him, that 
they were enlisted in the cause of universal 
Emancipation — Emancipation for all, in every 
clime, who groaned under the fetters of domestic 
slavery. He also entreated his friends constant- 
ly to bear in mind that their battle was to be 
fought upon Christian principle, and by christian 
means, their object being identified with the glo- 
ry of God, and the spiritual freedom of the hu- 
man race. Thus fighting for God, and looking 
constantly to him for direction and support, they 
could not err. They could never be defeated, — 
yet, a little while, and the monster would be 
slain, and when their holy triumph was attained, 
Angels in Heaven, with the ransomed and the 
victors upon earth, would join in shouting, 'Hal- 
lelujah, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth.' (Loud and long continued acclama- 
tion.) 

It was twelve o'clock ere the assembly broke 
up, and so highly delighted did all seem that not 
the slightest symptom of weariness or anxiety to 
get away was manifested to the last. Indeed. 
Mr. Thompson, who was the last to address them, 
was warmly cheered, and encouraged to go on in 
his last speech. 



56 SOIREE. 

At a Public Soiree, given in honor of Mr. 
Geo. Thompson, on tiie evening of 25th January, 
instant, and most numerously and respectably at- 
tended, the following Resolutions were unani- 
mously adopted : — 

1st, That this Meetinof, with unmingled de- 
light, welcomes the return of Mr. Thompson 
from America — seizes this early opportunity to 
express its high admiration of the blameless pro- 
priety, distinguished talent, and noble self-devo- 
tion, with which he has prosecuted the great ob- 
ject of his mission to the United States, in the 
face of national prejudice, interested denuncia- 
tions, and lawless violence — and feels devoutly 
grateful to that God who, amidst such opposition, 
has crowned his labors with signal success, and 
through many perils, brought him again safely to 
these shores. 

2d. That this Meeting has heard, with deep 
grief and indignation, of the misrepresentation, 
calumny, riot, and blood-thirsty violence employ- 
ed against the friends and advocates of freedom 
in the United States of America by many of their 
people in maintainance of. their criminal preju- 
dice against their fellow-citizens of color, their 
wicked and extensive system of iron-bondage, 
and their unhallowed trade in human beings, and 
this Meeting most solemnly declares its belief 
that such a prejudice, such a system, and such a 
trade, are not only opposed to the great princi- 
ples of their free constitution, but are an open and 
awful defiance of the rights of humanity, the 
principles of justice, and the obligations of the 
Divine law — a perpetuation of ignorance, oppres- 
sion, cruelty, and the ruin of immortal souls — 
fearfully provoking the judgments of the Almigh- 
ty against their land and nation. 



SOIREE. 57 

3cl. That whilst this Meeting- deeply laments 
the conduct of many Christians in the United 
States who, active in other fields of Christian du- 
ty, remain neutral in this momentous conflict, or 
lend their influences to the enemy, it has also 
great cause of thankfulness to God that many 
able, enlightened, and pious philanthropists in all 
parts of the United States, have organized them- 
selves with heroic firmness in the cause of imme- 
diate and universal Negro Emancipation — that 
this Meeting affectionately proffers its friendship 
and co-operation to these kindred Societies — de- 
sires to strengthen their hands and to cheer their 
hearts, and pledges itself to aid them by its ac- 
tive exertions, its sympathies, and its prayers. 

4th. That this Meeting, whilst it highly appre- 
ciates the labors of all who have attached them- 
selves to the cause of the Negro in the United 
States, cannot resist the loud call for a special 
tribute to the three men pre-eminently honored 
under God, by their high talent, their great sac- 
rifices, their bold defiance of every danger, and 
their fixed high principle, to originate, sustain, 
and carry to its present strong position, the Na- 
tional movement in America for immediate Ne- 
gro Emancipation, and it does, therefore, tender 
its most heart felt thanks to Wm. Lloyd Garri- 
son, Arthur Tappan, and George Thompson, 

WILLIAM P, PATON, Chairman. 



ADDRESS 

PRESENTED TO 

GEORGE THOMPSON, Esq. 

Jit an Enter lainmeiit given to him hy the Inhabit- 
ants of Edinhurgh, in the Jlssemhly Rooms, 
George Street, on the Evening of the 19th 
February, 1836. 

Esteemed and Honored Friend: 

This Meeting have come together for the pur- 
pose of testifying the regard in which you are 
held by the friends of liberty and humanity in this 
city, we cannot content ourselves without doing 
something more than merely offering the homage 
of our presence and respectful attention to what 
you may address to us ; and though the manner 
in which you have been received and listened to 
by the numerous and intelligent audiences you 
have had an opportunity of addressing since you 
last arrived ainong us, as well as the resolutions 
which have been unanimously passed on several 
of these occasions, must have satisfied you, not 
merely as to the estimate formed by the inhabit- 
ants of Edinburgh of the value of your recent 
services in the cause of freedom, but also as to 
the place which you continue to hold in their 



AliDRESS. 59 

TV arm and affectionate remembrance 5 yet we 
cannot refrain from availing ourselves of the 
privilege afforded by the more unrestrained and 
social character of the present Meeting, of con- 
veying to you in a more direct manner the ex- 
pressiun of our feelings in reference to these 
points. 

It is now about three years since the inhabitants 
of Edinburgh iiad first the pleasure of forming 
your acquaintance, and listening to your address- 
es on behalf of the oppressed and deeply injured 
slaves of our own colonies. To the events of that 
period our memories revert with a peculiar vivid- 
ness of interest. Arriving at a moment v.'hen the 
public mind was beginning to be fully awakened 
to the injustice, impiety, and cruelty of which our 
nation had so long been guily, in tolerating the 
continuance of Negro Slavery in our Colonial 
possessions, you were at once welcomed as a 
champion in a good cause, and became the instru- 
ment, in ihe hand of Providence, of informingr and 
directing our rising zeal, and of bringing our best 
energies to b-^ar upon the advancement of ihe 
great cause of Negro Emancipation. We can 
well remember the effect produced upon the 
crowded audiences to which you then spoke, by 
the copious and well-arranged evidence which 
you adduced as to the actual state of the Slaves 
in the British Colonies, by the clear and well es- 
tablished principles of morality, policy, and reli- 
gion, which you so successfully ap[)lied to the 
question of Slavery, by the consummate skill with 
which you baffled the efforts, and exploded the 
specious sophistries of the agents and apologists 
of oppression, and by the resistless torrents of 
eloquence with which you enforced your appeals 
to the hearts and consciences of those whom your 
arguments had already convinced. 



60 ADDRESS. 

Since then the great work, to the advancement 
of which your exertions were directed, has, by the 
Divine blessing, beon accomplished; our country 
has been relieved from the odious and accursed 
stain of Slavery; and the great truth that ^man 
cannot hold property in man ' has been recorded 
in our statute-book, as one of the settled princi- 
ples of British Law. To that result the people of 
Edinburgh may justly claim the honor of having 
in no mean degree contributed; and to them it 
will ever be a duty, as it always has been and is 
still, a pleasure to confess how much of the zeal, 
energy, and intelligence with which they weio 
enabled to urge their wishes on behalf of the 
slave, was owing to the effects produced upon 
them by the unwearied, talented, and impressive 
exertions of the gentleman they have now the 
satisfaction to address. 

During the interval which has elapsed since the 
auspicious day on which you joined with the in- 
habitants of this city in celebrating the carrying 
into effect of the Bill for emancipating the Slaves 
in the British Colonies, it has been your privilege 
to advocate the cause of the oppressed in another 
country, nearly related to our own by the ties of 
a common descent, a common language, and a 
common religion, but where your labors have un- 
happily not met with that triumphant success with 
which they were crowned here, or which we 
might have expected them to receive in a land 
that boasts the possession of such peculiar priv- 
ileges as America. Your visit to that country we 
have watched with no incurious or uninterested 
eye; and, while it has grieved us to learn how 
the force of an unreasonable, and unnatural preju- 
dice agamst color, oppresses the minds of our 
brethren in that country; while we have heard 



ADDRESS. 61 

with sorrow and with shame of the gross and 
glaring inconsistencies into which this prejudice 
has led men whom we cannot but re<jfard as t'elloW 
Cnristians; while we have been filled with horror 
at the recitals you have given us of the injuries, 
indignities, and cruelties which the unhappy 
African is doomed to suffer in that land of boasted 
liberty and piety ; and while we have seen with 
mingled sensations of indignation and pity, the 
Ungenerous and even barbarous manner in which 
you, our beloved friend and trusted representa- 
tive, have been treated by these republicans of 
the West; we would nevertheless rejoice in your 
having engaged in that mission, and congratulate 
you on the important results which you have been 
enabled to effect in that country in reference to 
the object that carried you thither. We thank 
you for having So ably, so zealously, so prudently, 
and in a spirit so truly Christian, represented to 
our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic our 
views and feelings in regard to this important 
subject. We offer our thanksgivings to God on 
your behalf in that you have been preserved and 
protected amid the many labors you were called 
to endure, and the threatening dangers to which 
you were exposed. We rejoice with you on 
account of the auspicious circumstances in which 
you loft the cause of Liberty, in that vast and 
powerful continent. And we pray that the seed 
you have there sown with much difficulty, and 
even at the peril of your life, may be watered by 
the dews from heaven, and may grow up and bring 
forth an abundant harvest of blessing to mankind, 
and of glory to God. 

It has afforded us the sincerest pleasure to see 
you again, and to welcome you back to the scene 
of your former exertions and triumphs; and now 
6 



6*2 ADDRESS. 

that we are about once more to part, we would 
solemnly and affectionately commend you to the 
God of all grace, in whose service you have been 
laboring, and by wjiose blessing your labors have 
been crowned with such gratifying success. That 
He may watch over you and keep you in health 
and happmess for many years, — that He may 
abundantly bless you in your future engagements 
and undertakings, — that He may bestow his pe- 
culiar favor upon your partner in life, and the 
children he has given you,— that He may be the 
breaker up of your way and the guide of your 
path, — that He may comfort you with the privil- 
eges and enjoyments of his reconciled presence, — ' 
and that when his wise and all-gracious purposes 
with you here are finished. He may receive you 
with the commendation of a faithful servant, into 
the rest and glory of heaven, are the objects, dear 
and honored Friend, of our earnest desire and 
unceasing prayer on your behalf. With these 
desires and prayers we will follow you whitherso- 
ever it may please Providence to direct your 
steps ; and while we remember you, we will not 
forget the cause in which you have been engaged, 
and with which your name is now inseparably 
connected. In the spirit of our holy religion, and 
in obedience to one of its express precepts, we 
will seek to ' remember those that are in bonds 
as bound with them ;' and pledged as we consider 
ourselves to be by the most solemn obligations to 
continued exertion in this great enterprise of 
Christian benevolence, we would take occasion 
fron) .ill that you have recently detailed to us, to 
go forward with increased alacrity and zeal, be- 
lieving that the time is not far distant when our 
principles shall be acknowledged wherever the 
Bible is revered, and when from every nation in 



ADDRESS. 63 

Christendom the foul blot of Slavery having^ been 
washed away, the liberated bondsman shall cease 
to groan, and rising' from the deg^radation into 
which he has been plunged, shall, (to use the 
words of the eloquent Curran,) 'stand redeemed, 
regenerated, and disenthralled by the irresistible 
genius of Universal Emancipation.' 

Signed in behalf of the Meeting, 
ROBERT KA YE GREVILLE,L.L.D., 

Chalrvian, 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

MR. GEORGE THOMPSON. 

On Thursday evening-, a public meeting of the 
Edinburgh Emancipation Society, and its friends, 
was held in the Rev. Dr. Peddie's chapel, Bristo 
Street, when Mr. Thompson gave an account of 
his Anti-Slavery Mission to the United States of 
America. Tiie admission to the meeting was by 
tickets, sixpence each — each ticket admitting two 
persons, and as there were upwards of a thousand 
of these sold, there must have been more than 
two thousand persons present. We know, also, 
that a great many persons were disappointed in 
procuring tickets, so speedily were they all dis- 
posed of About seven o'clock, Mr. Thompson 
made his appearance in the pulpit, and was re- 
ceived with several distinct rounds of the most 
enthusiastic applause. John Wigham, Jun. Esq. 
was called to the chair, and in opening the meet- 
ing said, that from the manifestations which he 
just witnessed, he was sure they were all anima- 
ted by one common feeling of delight and satis- 
faction to find that their able and distinguished 
ffiend Mr. Thompson had performed the object of 
his mission so energetically and successfully, and 



MEETING AT EDINBURGH. 65 

that he had returned to them in safety, under the 
extraordinary circumstances in which he had been 
placed. (Great cheering.) 

Mr. Thompson then rose and was received 
with a fresh burst of applause. He should not, 
he said, attempt to describe the feelings of satis- 
faction with which he gazed upon the laige and 
intelligent audience which he beheld assembled 
once more within these well known walls, for the 
purpose of listening to him who had now the 
honor to appear before them, and to hear from 
his lips the progress of those principles which 
they had there together enunciated and espous- 
ed, and the triumph of which they had there to- 
gether celebrated. He dared not trust himself 
even to attempt an expression of the joy and 
gratitude which filled his bosom when he beheld 
them still feeling a deep interest in the cause of 
human freedom, and found that not only had they 
not deserted that cause, but that they were rally- 
ing in even greater numbers around the standard 
which, they, in by-gone days, had planted and 
promised to sustain, while there was a fetter on 
the heel of a single human being on the face of 
the globe. (Cheers.) He begged to assure the 
meeting that his own attachment to the cause 
which he had the honor to advocate remained un- 
diminished — and not only so, but that it had nev- 
er even wavered or been weakened ; that it still 
continued as strong i s ever, and that what he had 
witnessed in afar-off land, had but the more deep- 
ly convinced him of the potency and omnipotence 
of those principles by the advocacy and enforce- 
ment of which we had succeeded in slaying the 
monster on our own borders ; that it had only 
more deeply convinced him that nothing waa 
6* 



66 MEETING AT 

wanting but the unceasing, the persevering pub- 
lication of those principles, to put an end to sla- 
very wherever it curses the soil and degrades hu- 
manity on the face of the earth. (Immense ap- 
plause.) He had that night to draw their atten- 
tion to the subject of slavery in the United States 
of America — to the incongruous institution of 
domestic slavery in a land of freedom. He wish- 
ed it to be understood that they were net met 
there that night, guided and influenced by a mere 
desire to know what was going on in the United 
States, as a matter of mere history of contempo- 
raneous events ; but that they were there to feel 
a deep interest upon many grounds, in the great 
question of human rights which was now agita- 
ting that wide spread territory. (Cheers.) The 
history of the Anti-Slavery question in America 
was deeply interesting, as developing the best, 
the holiest, and the mightiest means of carrying 
forward a moral revolution ; by the simple enun- 
ciation of the principles, the supremacy of which 
was sought to be obtained, without resorting to 
physical violence ; by the simple action of man 
upon man ; by opinion operating upon opinion; 
by merely enlisting the pulpit, the press, and the 
platform, in the work of that reformation. (Cheers.) 
The history of the American slavery question 
was as interesting as it was plain, as displaying 
the mighty influence of truth when outspoken 
and fearlessly enunciated without regard to hu- 
man wisdom or expediency; these having been 
the means by which a mighty change had been 
eflfected in America in reference to this question 
— a change so mighty that, he might venture 
■without hesitation to say, no change so great, 
without the interference of miraculous power had 
ever been effected in any era of the world. (Great 



EDINBURGH. 67 

cheering.) He repeated that it had been effect- 
ed not by human wisdom, by rank, nor wealth, 
nor politics, nor learning, nor expediency, but by 
the mighty lever which is fated to overturn the 
world, and place it as it should stand, with its 
apex upwards— it was by 'the foolishness of 
preachmg.' (Great applause.) That was the 
mighty agency which he employed in America. 
The history of the Anti-Slavery question was al- 
so hio-hly interesting, as bringing us acquainted 
with some of the noblest specimens of human na- 
ture— with some of the boldest and purest Re- 
formers that ever lived. He spoke unhesitating- 
ly when he said so ; and he should demonstrate 
the truth of this assertion ere he left the subject. 
He begged to state, that he was not there that 
night to m!ike the gulf of feeling and sentiment 
between Great Britain and America wider than it 
is— he was not there to publish an act of divorce 
between them— but to unite them in one common 
object, one common sympathy, one common prin- 
ciple, and one common plan, to put an end to sla- 
very wherever it exists. He wanted to bring the 
friends of the slave in this country, in contact 
with the noble and sublime spirits who were wait- 
ing to embrace them over the blue waters of the 
Atlantic, and to join them in one indissoluble 
compact never to relax their moral energy, until 
they shall have seized the pillars of the blood 
stained fabric which despotism has reared, and 
like another Samson, brought it to the ground. 
(Tremendous cheers.) Oh ! it was something— 
and It was his rich reward— to become acquamt- 
ed with men in a distant country, having one 
common language and one common ancestry, 
working with us in the same common cause ; it 
was something to know that the blue waters did 



68 MEETING AT 

not divide us ; that we are one in principle ; one 
in faith ; one in etFort ; that we have the same 
common object in this world, and the same antic- 
ipation hereafter ; it was something-, lie said, to 
know that we were engaged with these wise, 
holy, and uncompromising men in America, in 
accelerating the cause of Universal Emancipa- 
tion. (Great applause.) It was not alone the 
cause of Anti-Slavery in which he was embark- 
ed ; it was the cause of Anti-Ignorance — the 
cause of anti-cvery-thing which degrades, crush- 
es, withers, and destroys the spirits of mankind. 
Again, once more ; the question was interesting, 
because in its developement it made us acquaint- 
ed with the men and women engaged in it ; their 
principles and their conduct; and thus called 
upon us first to admire them, next to commend 
them, next to imitate them, and adopt the princi- 
ples by which on the other side of the Atlantic 
they advance the great work. The Anti-Slavery 
question in this country was very different from 
that m America; the struggle was never so sub- 
lime here as he had witnessed in America — our 
sacrifices weie never so great; our temptations 
to swerve were never so strong; our interests 
when at the closest were never so close, as in the 
United States. It was never necessary that we 
should suffer in our reputation ; that we should 
lose our friends ; the value of our property dete- 
riorated ; or that we should be deprived of the 
substance and amount of our profitable trade. 
But hard as this was, those now engaged in car- 
rying on this cause in America — men and women 
without exception — were subjected to it, and sus- 
tained by high religious principle, they firmly 
bore up against all these accumulated evils ; 
and nothing lower, and nothing less, than that 



EDINBURGH. 69 

mighty principle could sustain them in a cause, 
by espousing- which they had every thing to lose, 
and nothing but infamy to gain. (Cheers,) He 
stood there not to defame America. 'Twas true 
they persecuted him, but that was a small matter; 
'twas true they hunted him like a partridge on the 
mountains; that he had to lecture with the assas- 
sin's knife glancing before his eyes ; and his wife 
and his little ones in danger of falling by the 
ruthless hands of murderers. All this was true, 
and much more, but he came not there to tell of 
aught that he had suffered or done, except in so 
far as it illustrated the progress of the mighty 
reformvtion to which he had alluded. (Cheers.) 
Tie dared not speak slightingly of America. 
'Twas true he hated her sins — but 'twas not less 
true he loved her sons. Ilis object was not to 
overthrow tlie institutions of America, and bring 
her constitution into disrepute. Slavery might 
sink, and that constitution still live ; slavery 
raiirlit fall, and that constitution stand ; slavery 
might flie and be buried in a grave of infamy, 
covered with the execrations of mankind, and 
witness no resurrection ; yet the constitution of 
America might stand out in unsullied, and more 
than pristine hfauty, because of the blessing of 
the world. (Great cheers.) He should like to 
have an opportunity to speak of America in oth- 
er respects ; to speak of her as being exalted in 
arms, and as rich in wealth ; to speak of her ex- 
tended commrrce — of her acrriculture — of her un- 
paralleled means of educntion — with the volumc- 
of Revelation in the hands of all her families hu = 
those of ht^r degraded bondsmen : with the ordi- 
nances of religion in abundance ; of her 50,000 
niinist(u*s, and of her Missionary exertions ; oi 
all these he could dwell with pleasure, after h 



70 MEETING AT 

discussed the question of slavery. But the dam- 
ninuc plague spot of America, Christian America, 
Republican America ; America, the land of bibles, 
and tracts, and missionary societies ; America, 
who boasted herself on beinfj the freest country 
on the f-ice of tiie fflobe, America had her slave 
ships — types of Pandemonium — glidini)- on the 
surface of the ocean, and put forth her presump- 
tuous hand and traded in the lives and tlie souls 
of men ! (Cheers,) VVouIa it be believed that 
the slaves formed a sixth part of the American 
population ; every sixth man and woman were 
slaves — their bodies, their souls, their skill, their 
enerijy, their posterity, their every thing was un- 
der the dominion of slavery. 

It was not true that the slave-trade was abol- 
ished in America; slave auctions were still to be 
seen — men and women were still to be seen sold 
like so many cattle. It was to abolish that system 
he went to America. He did not deny that the 
weavers of Paisley, that the peasantry of Ireland, 
and many others of our countrymen were border- 
ing on starvation. He could not deny this ; but 
these individuals, poor and miserable iis they were, 
were still free ; to them the wheel of fortune was 
still revolving; the starving- of to-day were not 
the starving of to-morrow ; hope beamed on all ; 
they may die, but they bequeath liberty to their 
children, and they, guided by the way-marks 
which their parents had missed — became the fa- 
vorites of fortune, and rose to honor, competence 
and prosperity. He did not seek to exempt the 
slaves from poverty ; he wanted only to give them 
freedom. (Great cheering.) But this was not 
his only mission to America ; he went also to at- 
tack a sin not surpassed by slavery — the inherent 
prejudice that prevails against color. So deep 



EDINBURGH. 71 

Was this prejudice, that the colored people were 
denied a pew in the church, a place in the steam 
boat or coach ; his body is even denied a comer 
in the usual place of repose for the dead ; and 
they would deny his soul a place in heaven if 
they could. The first thing to be done in Amer- 
ica, is to plead for the slave as for a man ; to es- 
tablish his title to humanity ; and make him stand 
before their eyes as a human being. There was 
one test which he always applied to a man about 
whose title to the full honors of human nature 
there was some dispute. He asked not of his 
clime, his color, or his stature, of the texture of 
his hair, or the conformation of his limb ; he ask- 
ed not if he issued from the majestic portals of a 
palace or from the humble door of a miserable 
wigwam — he asked but one question, — 'Could 
he love his God?' And if he answered that in 
the affirmative, then he recognised his humanity, 
claimed him as a brother, and elevated him to the 
position which he himself occupied. (Tremend- 
ous cheering.) Well, how did he go to Ameri- 
ca? He went without name and without influ- 
ence, and without wealth. Well, did he flatter 
them ? No. He could not call them the freest 
people, for he did not believe it; he did not call 
them the wisest people, for he had left Edinburgh, 
and he could not say so. (Laughter and cheers.) 
After describing the reception he had received, 
Mr. Thompson proceeded to say, he had been 
punned upon, sneered at, and pitied. Even in 
Edinl)urgh, he understood, he had been called an 
amiable enthusiast — a title wliich he begged to 
disclaim. An enthusiast was one who sought to 
obtain an end without using the means ; and 
therefore the term applied more to the person 



73 MEETING AT 

that used it than to him. He (Mr. Thompson) 
went leaning upon the arm of the Almighty, and 
trusting in the enunciation of truth, believing that 
God is ever with the truth, and that truth is God* 
He was not an enthusiast, therefore, who by the 
enunciation of truth seeks to overcome prejudice, 
and interest, and superstition, but he is an enthu- 
siast who seeks those ends without using the 
means. (Cheers.) Mr. T. went on to show the 
degraded state of the American slaves, and that 
even Church dignitaries and ministers were slave- 
holders. One of the Professors, he said, put ta 
some slaves the revolting question^not oi ivho are 
are you ? but whose are you ? One answered, I. 

belong to Mr. , and another said I am Mr^ 

such a one's, and another said I am the Congre- 
gations. This was explained by stating that cer- 
tain pious persons bequeathed their slaves to the 
Church by way of endowment, to keep up the 
preaching of the Gospel ! And it was well known 
that no slaves were so wretched as those that be- 
long to the Congregation, which arose from their 
being, hired out like hacks for short periods of 
three or six months to persons, who, having no 
interest in their future welfare, only strived how 
they could make most out of them for the time.- 
He affirmed also that the slaves were denied the 
blessings of religion, and that in the State of Lou- 
isiana the second 'offence ' of teaching a slave to 
read the Bible, was punished with death. Ta 
show that the slave trade still existed, he stated 
that in the District of Columbia, the license for 
dealing in slaves was 400 dollars, and that the 
revenue derivable from this source was applied 
to the formation of canals and the education ot' 
the white youth of America. In this same dis- 



EDINBRRGH. 73 

trict, a poor man was taken up on suspicion of 
being a slave ; he was advertised as such, but no 
one came forward to claim him. In these cir- 
cumstances what did his oppressors do ? Did 
they give him compensation for false imprison- 
ment? No, he he was put up to public auction, 
and sold to be a slave for life to pay his jail fees ! 
After some further illustrations of American sla- 
very, Mr. Thompson turned from what he called 
the dark side of the picture, and showed the rap- 
id progress which the principleof slave abolition 
was making in the number of Societies embarked 
in the cause, and the extensive funds raised in 
collections for promoting it, into whicli particu- 
lars we have neither time nor space to enter. 

At the conclusion of the lecture, the Rev. Dn 
Ritchie stated that the committee, instead of call- 
ing upon the meeting to adopt any formal reso- 
lutions on that occasion respecting the character 
and conduct of Mr. Thompson, considered it bet- 
ter to draw up the resolutions leisurely, and bring 
them forward at the next meeting. 

The meeting then separated about half past 
nine o'clock. 



GEORGE THOMPSON. 

This highly esteemed and intrepid advocate of liu- 
man freedom, arrived in this city last Tuesday even- 
ing, and on Wednesday he was met by the Ladies and 
Gentlemen forming the Committees of the Edinburgh 
Emancipation Society, in the Saloon of the Royal Hotel. 
The statement then given by Mr. Thompson with 
regard to himself, throughout his visit to the United 
States, was to every one present far more than satis- 
factory. Of his every movement they highly approv- 
ed, while his account of America in regard to the sub- 
ject of slavery, and the prospect of its ultimate extinc- 
tion, was at once deeply affecting, and most encourag- 
ing. At the close of his narrative, the following Res- 
olutions were proposed, and unanimously adopted by 
both the Committees in union, as conveying their sen- 
timents on the first occasion on which they enjoyed 
the pleasure of meeting with their friend. 

1, That it is with feelings of sincere delight and 
satisfaction, mingled with those of the most poignant 
regret, that we have listened to the statements now 
given, by our most esteemed friend, Mr. George 
Thompson — of delight and satisfaction, on seeing him- 
self amongst us once more, in perfect safety and in 
health — but of painful regret at the occasion of his 
returning so much sooner than it was intended, both by 
himself and by us, from the United States of America. 

2. That while we have deprecated from the begin- 
ning, as we now do once more, the most remote idea of 



MEETING AT EDINBURGH. 75 

interfering with any sinp;le state, or city, or village 
tliroughout America, in the arrangement or manage- 
ment ot their own institutions, still, as we consider it at 
once AW act o( duty and of kindness, to hold up before 
all men the great principles of truth and justice, and 
humanity, and regarding as we do the prevalence of 
slavery, to involve the habitual violation of a law infi- 
nitely above all human arrangements; we cannot but 
deeply deplore, that in a country where our common 
language is spoken, and loudly demanding to be ac- 
knowledged as the home of the free, the spirit of 
persecution against those who merely plead the cause 
of the oppressed, should have risen to a height which 
has abridged, if not endangered, all freedom of discus- 
sion. 

3. That as God hath made of one blood all nations of 
men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath 
Himself determined also the bounds of their habitation, 
we regard the prejudice against color, which has been 
nursed and cherished for ages throughout the United 
States, with greater pain and abhorrence than ever — 
as not merely the fruitful and disgusting source of 
crime, but of itself alone a daring and contemptuous 
provocation of our common Creator and final Judge. 

4. That the signal preservation of our valued friend 
Mr. Thompson, amidst all the violence and malignity 
of the abettors of Am-eriean slavery, and the measure 
of success by which his faithful, and zealous, and un- 
wearied efforts have been crowned, call alike for our 
devout acknowledgments, regarding them as equal 
tokens of his having been engaged in a righteous 
cause ; and that we can now entertain no doubt of the 
day approaching when, far from being stigmatised as 
an intruding foreigner, or a foe to harmony and peace, 
he will be liailed by the moral and upright, the humane 
and christian citizens of America, as a man who sought 
only to avert a catastrophe from whicli his native land 
had happily been delivered, and which America, with 
all her resources, has now such just reasons both to 
dread and to deprecate. 



76 MEETING AT EDINBURGH. 

5. That with regard to the great cause of human 
freedom, from the statements given by Mr, Thompson, 
as well as from other sources of information to which 
we have had access during his absence, even in the 
United States we not only find many encouragements 
to persevere, but in the pure spirit of devotion to the 
cause evinced by many in that great country, we dis- 
cover sufficient ground to hope that the progress of 
America towards universal emancipation, will proceed 
with accelerated steps, till the rod of the oppressor 
shall be broken, till there is not one house of bondage 
on her soil, and America, in the judgment of other 
nations, becomes fairly entitled to her claim of being 
the Land of the Free. 

6. That with feelings of strong sympathy, respect, 
and increased affection towards all those American 
citizens,, both male and female, who, far from shrink- 
ing, have remained firm and undaunted, — we feel 
called upon to remember them before the God of 
righteousness and peace, with whom all the swellings 
of human passion are as nothing, that He may continue 
to preserve them, and enable us to persevere in the 
great cause ot universal epiancipation, to which we 
now stand, more than ever, bound to adhere. 

At the close of the meeting, thanks were returned 
to God, for his most merciful preservation of Mr. 
Thompson and his family, as well as their safe return, 
gfter his having accomplished so much in such a lim« 
lied period, 



I 



MR. THOMPSON'S 
SECOND LECTURE. 

On Monday evening-, an adjourned meeting or 
the members and friends of the Edinburoh Eman- 
cipation Society, took place in the Rev. Dr. 
Browne's Chapel, Bronghton Place, to hear Mr. 
George Thompson deliver his second address on 
the subject of iiis anti-slavery mission to the 
United States of America. The Church was full, 
but the number present was not so great as at 
the last lecture — probably from the price of the 
tickets having been raised — Mr. John Wigham, 
jun. was again called to the chair. 

Mr. Thompson, who, on his appearance in the 
pulpit, was rapturously applauded as usual, pro- 
ceeded to take up the subject where he had left 
off on the former night. He went on to describe 
the fierce opposition which the question and its 
supporters had met with from the Americans. — 
He stated, that the Senate of Georgia had offer- 
ed a reward of 5000 dollars for the head of Mr. 
W. L. Garrison, for promulgating what was de- 
scribed in the American constitution as self-evi- 
dent truths, that God made all men equal, and 

•7* 



78 MEETING AT 

endowed them with equal rig-htg, any infringement 
of which, obedience to the laws of nature and of 
God called upon them to resist. These doctrines 
the Americans were the first to enunciate to the 
world, and yet the Senate of Georgia offered 
5000 dollars for the head of Mr. Garrison, for ad- 
vocating them. Mr. T. then described the dis- 
turbances which took place in New-York, in the 
month of July, 1834, in consequence of an anti- 
slavery moetinof having taken place, at which a 
few colored people attended. The mob, he said, 
rose upon them, and governed the city for three 
days and nights; a great deal of property was 
destroyed ; the houses of the most respectable 
citizens sacked; and a catalogue of outrages per- 
petrated which would take him all the evening 
but to refer to. Riots of a similar description had 
also taken place at several other places. Such 
was the state of things when he went to America. 
For several months his labors in the Northern 
States excited little attention. Several paragraphs 
concerning him appeared in t!ie Northern papers, 
but the papers in the Southern States carefully 
excluded all notice of his movements. In the 
month of May following his arrival, however, a 
large meeting of the National Anti-Slavery So- 
ciety took place in New- York, at which the Re- 
port of the Society was read. This Report, which 
gave an account of no fewer than 250 active aux- 
iliary Societies, scattered up and down the coun- 
try, fell like a thunder-bolt upon the pro-slavery 
advocates. They rose like one man, with the 
determination of pulling down the abolitionists 
by every means in their power; and mutilation, 
plunder, and murder, became the order of the day 
throughout more than half of the United States. 
The mail-bags were rifled in open day ; and no 



EDINBURGH. 



vessel was allowed to send their letters to the 
post-office without the previous inspection of the 
* Committee of Vigilance,' which had been ap- 
pointed by the mob ; and every paper, letter, and 
pamphlet in any way bearing upon the abolition 
question, was seized and destroyed. 

Mr. Thompson read numerous quotations from 
the anti-abolition newspapers, to shew the abu- 
sive language which was applied to the advocates 
of slave emancipation, whom they recommended 
should all be hanged, or otherwise disposed of 
in an equally summary manner. The quotation 
of the liberal motto's of some of these papers, 
along with the intolerant sentiments of their lead- 
ing articles, created considerable sensation in the 
meeting, as indeed did the whole of the details 
of the disgraceful conduct of the pro-slavery ad- 
vocates in that land of boasted freedom. He 
stated that a Grand Jury in the county of Fred- 
erick, had presPHted the Anti-Slavery Society 
and the colored population, as nuisances that 
ouffht to be abated by every possible means ; and 
a Grand Jury in Alab:3ma had voted Geo. Thomp- 
son a nuisance, (great laughter,) along with J. G. 
Birney, W. L. Garrison, Arthur Tappan, and 
Daniel U'Connell, the great Irish orator — (renew- 
ed laughter and cheers) — for impertinent and un- 
authorized interfprence with the slaveholders in 
America. Mr. T. remarked that one part of the 
American constitution — the liberty of speech, and 
the liberty of the press — was held to be unalter- 
able by Conirress ; notwithstanding wfiich, there 
M'as nothing more common than for public meet- 
ings to recommend the legislature to put down 
certain prints, and to put to death certain individ- 
uals, who advocated the right of the slave, and 
put up their voice in behalf of the oppressed. — 



80 MEETING AT 

He had also to arraign the Christian ministers of 
America as the most efficient supporters of sla- 
very — (cries of 'shame.') He blushed to bring 
that charge forward ; but they would not have a 
proper view of American slavery without it. — 
They had to hear perhaps for the first time, that 
the ministers and elders of the respective bodies 
of Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and Con- 
gregationalists, were the main pillars of that blood 
stained fabric which it was the object of the abo- 
litionists to pull down — (repeated cries of shame.) 
If these parties would withdraw their counten- 
ance from slavery, if they would cease to preach 
the doctrines they now preach ; if they would 
cease to participate in the gams of the system 
by which God's image is bought and sold in Amer- 
ica, slavery would not remain one year. (Great 
cheering.) This was a grave charge, and might 
appear strange to them, but that was not his fault, 
but the fault of the Americans, and the fault of 
Englishmen who had gone there, and come back 
here, and said nought about it. (Cheers.) Tiiere 
was no want of persons to tell all that was good 
about America, but why did they not give both 
sides of the question ? It was time that men 
should learn to tell not only the truth but the 
whole truth. While he should be ready to give 
America praise for being before us in many 
thing's, in this he must say they were far behind 
us, in thit the clergy of all denominations were 
not only with the opprPs«or in sentiment, but were 
found the worst of oppress^ors. Mr. Thompson 
then went at some length into the proof of these 
charffps, of which, it will be sufficient for us to 
say, that it was ample and unequivocal enough in 
all conscienre. He then proceeded to change 
the picture, and to show the astonishing altera- 



EDINBURGH. 81 

tion which had been effected recently, and the 
rapid progress which the cause was still making. 
More than 1000 njinistcrs had already renounced 
their sentiments, and declared themselves in favor 
of immediate emancipation, (cheers.) There were 
already no fewer than 3'20 societies established 
in 14 or 15 of the American States. So great 
was the change among the Presbyterian body, 
that many Synods and Presbyteries were making 
abolition sentiments a condition of church mem- 
bership ; and were refusing to allow a minister, 
being a slaveholder, to mount their pulpits. (Great 
cheering.) An equally gratifying change had 
been effected in the sentiments of the Episcopal 
Methodists, the Baptists, and Congregationalists, 
large numbers of whom were already acting effi- 
ciently in the cause. The Unitarians were also 
rising in favor of the question ; and the celebrat- 
ed ]Dr. Channing had recently come out with a 
work in favor of immediate and entire emancipa 
tion. One of the most cheering evidences of the 
progress of the cause was perhaps to be found 
in the fact, that many of the students in the 
colleges and seminaries of learning in America, 
were abolitionists. (Cheers.) Mr. T. also pro- 
duced a number of nevv^spapers which were favor- 
able to the cause, besides monthly and quarterly 
periodicals, annuals, and even almanacs of every 
shape and size. There were also, he said, anti- 
slavery pictures and poetry published; anti-sla- 
very fancy sales held ; and petitions got up in all 
parts of the north. There were also anti-slavery 
church Conferences, and prayer meetings in abun- 
dance ; and 50 anti-slavery agents were travel- 
ling through the country and lecturing on the 
subject. In this country we had never had above 
thur or five agents. Mr. Thompson concluded 



82 MEETING AT 

by earnestly urging upon one and all the neces- 
sity of being active in the work of universal 
eniancipation, by prayer to God, by the exersise 
of their personal influence with their friends in 
America, and with the Americans who come to 
this country. Seven years he believed would not 
elapse ere slavery would be abolished in America 
— for the die was already cast, the blow was 
struck, the day had dawned : and so sure as God 
reigns, so sure would the principles which He 
had already blessed — so marvellously blessed — 
so surely would those principles overthrow the 
accursed system of slavery. (Great cheering.) 

The Rev. Dr. Ritchie then moved a series of 
resolutions, which were seconded by Mr. R. Al- 
exander, Leith, and unanimously carried. 

The meeting then adjourned till Wednesday 
evening. 

RESOLUTIONS. 

The following resolutions were unanimously 
adopted at a public meeting of the members and 
friends of the Edinburgh Emancipation Society, 
held in Dr. Brown's Chapel, Broughton Place, 
on Monday, 1st February, 1836, immediately after 
an Address by Mr. George Tiiompson, giving a 
detail of his late visit to the United States. 

John Wigham, Jr. Esq., in the Chair. 

1. After what has been now and formerly stat- 
ed by Mr. George Thompson, we are fully per- 
suaded that he has in spirit, procedure, and suc- 
cess, exceeded the most sanguine expectations of 
the Emancipation Society — that by his firmness 
•and prudence, zeal and perseverance in advocat- 
ing the cause of the bondsmen in the United 



EDINBURGH. 83 

States, he has amply redeemed every pledge giv- 
en by him to the friends of human freedom, by 
whom he was deputed — that, amidst obloquy, peril, 
and physical violence, he continued to persevere 
until, by the verdict of transatlantic friends, the 
best judges in this matter, his remaining longer 
would, without promoting the cause, liave com- 
promised his own safety. We acknowledge the 
good hand of Providence that has been around 
him, bid him cordial welcome to his native shore, 
renew our expressions of confidence in him as a 
talented advocate of the liberties of man, and 
trust that a suitable field may soon be opened for 
the renewal of his exertions. 

2. We deeply sympathize with our anti-slavery 
friends in the United States, under the persecu- 
tions to whicli they have been subjected. We 
would remind them, that their persecutors are the 
libellers of the American Constitution, which 
proclaims the equal rights of all men, while they 
withhold from 2,000,000 of their fellow-citizens 
every natural right, and persecute the preachers 
of the doctrines of the Constitution. That they 
are the libellers of their Maker, since they found 
their injustice on that color of the skin which 
God has given to the negro. That in this, if in 
any cause, our friends may boldly say, greater is 
' He that is with us, than all that can be against 
us.' We congratulate them on the rapid advance 
of their cause, exhort them to press onwards, and 
bid them God speed. 

3. We remember with delijrht the claims of 
common parentage, lantruage and interests, and 
rejoice in the many institutions, religious and 
philanthropic, by which America is signali7ed ; 
and view with corresponding regret and condem- 
nation, the support given to slavery by Christian 



84 MEETING AT EDINBURGH, 

professors, ministers, and chnrches, and wonid 
adjure them by our common Christianity and the 
public shame, thus put upon it, to Aveigh their 
conduct in the balance of the sanctuary — to give 
up their horrid traffic in the bodies and souls of 
men — to put away from among them the accursed 
thing, to redeem the paet, by awaking to righteous- 
ness, by emancipating and evangelizing tlieir sa- 
ble fellow-citizens, and thus do homage to Him 
who hath niade of one blood all nations of men. 

4. For ourselves, we hail the speedy answer of 
our prayers, and realization of our hopes, in the 
emancipation of all the slaves in the United States 
— we discern it in the fears and wrath of tJje 
slaveholders— in the absence of moral argument, 
and in the melancholy substitute, riot and blood- 
shed. We descry it in the labors of a Garrison, 
the sacrifices of a Tappan, the fermenting leaven 
of Theological Seminaries, the christian heroism 
of female advocates, and in the 320 Anti-Slavery 
Societies that have grown to maturity within the 
short space of a year, and especially in the moral 
character of the cause as that of Truth — of Pat- 
riotism — of Man — of God — and we pledge our- 
selves, f)y every moral and Scriptural motive, to 
adjure every friend of ours beyond the Atlantic, 
and all that may occasionally visit our land, to 
use every exertion to bring to a speedy and peace- 
ful termination, a system so fearfully anomalous 
and sinful, and Heaven-provoking in a land where 
Gospel light so much abounds — for the past, we 
thank God, and for rhe future we take and bid all 
lathers take courage. 

JOHN WIGHAM, Jr., Chairman. 



PUBLIC MEETING 

AT EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND. 

February 8, 1836o 
AMERICAN SLAVERY. 

On Monday, a public meeting of the inhabit- 
ants was held in the large Waterloo Room, Re- 
gent Bridge, for the purpose of expressing their 
sense of the evils of Slavery, as it exists in the 
United States of America. The Lord Provost 
Avas called to the chair. On the platform, we 
observed the Honorable Henry David Erskine ; 
Rev. Drs. Dickson, Peddie, and Ritchie ; Rev. 
Messrs. Gray, Bennie, Liddle, Johnston, French, 
C. Anderson, Robertson, Tnnes, Peddie, Gould, 
W. Anderson, Wilkes, Alexander, Thomson, 
&.C. ; James Crawford and James Moncrieff, Esqs. 
advocates ; Bailies Macfarlan and Sawers ; Trea- 
surer Black ; Councillors Duncan, Jameson, and 
Deuchar, Dr. Greville, G. M. Torrance, Esq. of 
Kilsaintninian ; William Wemyss, Esq. ; A.Mil- 
lar, Esq. Master of Merchant Company ; Patrick 
Tennant, Esq. W. S. ; Henry Tod, Esq. W. S. ; 
Captain Rose; John Wigham, Jun. Esq.; Alex. 
Crnickshank, Esq.; Geo. Thompson, Esq.; and 
between 40 and 50 other gentlemen. 

The Lord Provost shortly slated the objects of 
the meeting, declaring that it had no ^party ob- 



S6 MEETING AT 

ject in view, and was simply to be confined to the 
objects which was set forth in the placard. 

Mr. Crawford, advocate, then rose and said he 
had been requested to move the first resolution, 
and while he regretted that it had not fallen to 
the lot of some one more competent to do it jus- 
tice, he claimed this much of merit for himself, 
that no one could do it more sincerely or more 
cordially. (Cheers.) lie begged to read the 
resolution, for he thought that the mere reading 
of It would relieve hmi from the necessity of 
making many remarks. 

Resolved, That this Meeting consider slavery un- 
der every modification, and in every country, as op- 
posed to the dictates of humanity, the prosperity of 
nations, and especially to the principles of the Chris- 
tian religion. That deeply sensible of their obliga- 
tions to Providence for removing from this nation the 
stigma of maintaining slavery, this Meeting feel call- 
ed on, as free citizens of a Christian State, to use eve- 
ry lawful means for promoting the entire abolition of 
slavery in every quarter of the world. 

He could not commence his address, without 
expressing the gratification he felt, at seeing so 
very numerous and respectable a meeting assem- 
bled on that interesting occasion. It was en- 
couraging and in the highest degree refreshing, 
to see men of every variety of christian persua- 
sion, and of every shade of political opinion, for- 
getting all minor differences, and meeting on that 
occasion on a common ground, for the mainten- 
ance of a common principle, and t''or the promo- 
tion of a common cause ; and it was one of the 
many excellent consequences which resulted 
from meetings like the present, that is tended to 
smooth the asperities and sweeten the inter- 



EDINBURGH. 87 

course of societ}'', by reminding' each other of the 
points upon which we are agreed, and teaching 
us charity respecting points upon which we dif- 
fer. (Great cheers.) The learned gentleman 
then proceeded to say that the time was not long 
gone by, since the question they were then met 
to consider presented itself in a very different 
aspect. Many then present might remember the 
time when the slave trade itself, with all the abom- 
inations attending on it, was encouraged, sanc- 
tioned and protected by British law ; and when 
those who ventured to assail it were derided as 
visionary dreamers, and idle enthusiasts; yet in 
course of time, a patriotic government put down 
the slave trade for ever. (Cheers.) A degrad- 
ing system of slavery, however, continued to ex- 
ist in our West India colonies until a very recent 
date ; and when Britons met to express their hor- 
ror at the evils of slavery and the guilt of slave- 
ry, they met to condemn themselves ; they met to 
denounce a system in the maintenance of which 
they themselves participated, they met to sympa- 
thize with the bondage and degradation which 
they aided in perpetuating. But at length the 
cry of 800,000 human beings kept by this coun- 
try in a state of bondage, awakened public feel- 
ing; and a small but patriotic band, burning to 
■wipe away that stam from our country, and anx- 
ious to vindicate our outraged humanity, com- 
menced a system of agitation against slavery. 
(Great cheers.) The learned gentleman then al- 
luded to the unwearied efforts of Wilberforce and 
his friends, whose labors had happily been crown- 
ed with triumphat success, by the passing of the 
British Colonial Shive Emancipation Act two 
years ago — the noblest enactment which a Min- 
ister ever proposed, or a Monarch ever sanction- 



gK? MEETING AT 

ed — an enactment which had wiped away the' 
stain from the character of British justice, and hy 
which the plague spot which rested on our con- 
stitution, had been destroyed forever; and now 
the sun saw not one single slave within our wide 
realms. (Great cheering.) The peaceful and 
satisfactory working of that measure too, had put 
to silence the evil forebodings which were utter- 
ed respecting its effects. The latest accounts 
proved that these colonies were never more pros- 
perous ; that the laborers never more contented ;. 
and that moral and religious improvement were 
never making such rapid progress. (Great 
cheers.) He might also state what had only 
lately come to his knowledge, that his Majesty's 
Government had granted the handsome sum of 
£10,000 to be expended in educating the eman- 
cipated negroes in our West India colonies ; an 
apt and beautiful sequel to the good work which 
they had formerly accomplished. (Great cheers.) 
After we have succeeded therefore in accom- 
plishing the successful issue of slavery in this 
country were we to sit still, to wait calmly, and 
see slavery in its most unmitigated form main- 
tained in America? (Cheers.) He admitted 
there were some views of this question, in which 
they were not entitled to express their opinions 
on the subject of American slavery. There were 
two classes of men who had no such right. Those 
of our countrymen who viewed the question of 
slavery as one of worldly policy, had no right to 
interfere with slavery in America. On the other 
hand, there was a class of persons who were now 
loud in protesting against American slavery, who 
had never protested against it in this country, 
who now joined in the cry against slavery, not 
because they abhorred it, but because they dis- 



EDINBURGH. 89 

liked America. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) With 
neither of these classes of men did he mean to 
co-operate. So far from entering on the ques- 
tion, from dislike to America, he considered the 
laws and institutions of that country as vener- 
able in the eyes of England ; and that the land 
of Washington, Franklin, Jay, Abbot and Chan- 
ning, could never be otherwise than interesting 
to us. (Cheers.) It was for the sake of Ameri- 
ca herself, that he protested against slavery as 
being to them as it had been to us, a clog upon 
its future career of improvement and as being 
enough to call down the vengeance of heaven 
upon them, for maintaining so foul a crime. 
(Great cheers.) It was not because of its impol- 
icy and inexpediency however, or of its inconsist- 
ence with republican institutions, or even with 
humanity, that he would feel himself entitled to 
interfere with America. It was from a deep con- 
viction of the sinfulness of slavery, that he con- 
sidered we were entitled to enter upon the ques- 
tion. (Cheers.) There were others present, far 
better able than he was, who would explain how 
grievously inconsistent slavery was with the prin- 
ciples of religion. He might point to many such 
expressions in the scriptures as 'the bondage of 
sin ' and ' the glorious liberty of the sons of God,' 
to show that slavery must be something exceed- 
ingrly detestable when it was used to express the 
heinousness of sin ; and that liberty must be some- 
thing inexpressibly delightful when it is em])loy- 
ed to denote the blessings and the value of holi- 
ness. (Great cheering.) He might also explain, 
that no sooner did the principles of Christianity 
enter into the breast of men, than, if a slave, he 
panted and burned for freedom: and that, if not 
a slave, no sooner did the principles of religion 
8* 



90 MEETING AT 

enter into his breast, than he panted to bestow 
freedom upon all the human race. He might 
also advert to that simple and beautiful rule, 
' Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto 
you, do ye even so to them;' a rule which ex- 
cluded every man from having- a slave who was 
not willing himself to become one — but without 
entering on these grounds, he would take up the 
single argument, that the Americans founded ev- 
ery one of their own rights upon the equality of 
man ; and he would say, where was their boast- 
ed freedom and equality when the independent 
citizens were seen planting their foot on the 
prostrate body of his fellow-men on account of 
his difference of color? (Cheers.) After some 
farther remarks to the same effect, the learned 
gentleman concluded by remarking, that if we 
wished to be successful we must proceed to our 
great duty by proper means, for that he alone was 
a freeman whom the truth made free, and all were 
slaves beside. (Great cheering.) 

The Rev. Mr. Bennie then rose to second the 
resolution brought forward by Mr. Crawford. He 
said he had great pleasure in meeting his fellow- 
citizens to declare his abhorrence of the sin and 
misery of slavery ; and yet he could not suppress 
a feeling of shame to think that, after all that was 
done to improve society, for the cultivation of the 
human mind, and the diffusion of knowledoe, it 
was still necessary to repeat, to justify and de- 
fend the proposition, that ' Man is free, and that 
his fellow man has and can have no right of 
property in him.' (Great cheering.) There were 
some questions of so complex and subtle a na- 
ture, that men of the calmest judgment and the 
most candid temper might reasonably differ ; but 
most certainly slavery was not one of these — 



EDINBURGH. 91 

«pon that question, every man was qualified to 
judge. Tlie Rev. Gentleman then proceeded to 
show that slavery, under whatever modification it 
might exist, was subversive of morality and re- 
ligion — was opposed to the dictates of humanity 
— brutalized the people — placed a barrier against 
the progress of knowledge, and consequently a- 
gainst the improvement of society. After refer- 
ring to the struggle which had taken place in tiiis 
country upon slavery, and its triumphant success, 
lie said still tliere were many parts of the world 
where slavery prevailed, and though he did not 
Avish to mingle political feelings v/ith moral and 
religious sentiments, yet he could not help say- 
ing that the existence of slavery in a land call- 
ing itself free, rendered the name of liberty dis- 
trusted, and the boast of it disgusting. (Cheers.) 
In sitting down, ho would say that they ought not 
to rest till every link of the fetters had ceased to 
clink upon the heels of every slave, for 

' 'Tis liberty alone 
That gives to life its verdure and perfume, 
And we are weeds without it.' (Great cheering.) 

The Rev. Mr. Alexander, of Argyle Square 
Chapel, moved the second resolution. 

Resolved, That this Meetino; view with sincere re- 
gret the existence of unmitigated Slavery in Ameri- 
ca, a country connected with Great Britain by many 
interesting ties ; and conceive it to be their duty pub- 
licly to express their sentiments on the subject, and 
to record their detestation of this inhuman and un- 
christian system. 

He would not take up their time with any re- 
marks on the evils of slavery, in general, that 
having been well handled by the Rev. Gentleman 



9& MEETING AT 

who had preceded him. He wished to argue the 
question of American slavery upon the ground of 
our common humanity. He admitted that the 
strongest ground was our common Christianity ; 
but he still thought they might speak to the Ame- 
ricans on the ground of their common humanity, 
and take up the question as one of pity and kind- 
ness. They were entitled to say to the Ameri- 
caiis — I am a man, bearing within my breast a 
human heart — nothing connected with humanity 
is foreign to me — I am an English Gentleman ; 
and by these ties I am bound to defend the weak- 
er party — I am bound to stand forth in the de- 
fence of woman — the weaker party is oppressed 
by you — woman is degraded, insulted, tortured. 
Tell me not of the Atlantic that rolls between us 
— my spirit passes over the Atlantic ; tell me not 
of your constitution — I tear your charter to 
pieces. (Great cheering.) I speak as man to 
man ; you have no right to lacerate my feelings ; 
withhold your hand : as long as there is might in 
my arm, and power in my tongue, smite not my 
brother, smite not my sister. (Great cheering.) 
He would not describe the horrors of American 
slavery, though slavery never wore a darker form 
than in America, but he would ask who taught 
America the abominable traffic in human flesh ? 
It was Britain. We had no objection atone time 
to barter our slaves for their coffee ; and it beho- 
ved us, therefore, as a matter of justice to un- 
teach them what we had so unjustly taught them. 
(Loud cheers.) But it might be asked, will Ame- 
rica listen to us when we speak? Aye, that she 
will — the voice of Britain is not so weak but that 
her voice will be heard across the Atlantic. 
(Great cheers.) We could hardly calculate, he 
said, the influence which the expression of En- 



EDINBURGIf, 9§5 

glish feeling had upon the Americans. Talk of 
jjaving no influence ! — There was not a speech 
made in our Parliament with reference to Ame- 
rica, which did not go from end to end of that 
mighty country, and produce an influence which 
the speeches of no other nation could produce. 
In conclusion, the Rev. Gentleman remarked,, 
that America was full of incongruities upon this 
subject. She was at once a land of Bibles and 
of blood — a land of Christianity and of cruelty — 
a land of missions and murders — a land which 
boasted of unbroken freedom, and yet where man 
placed his foot upon the neck of man. Such a 
state of things could not long continue. 

Mr. Moncrieff, advocate, seconded the motion- 
In urging the principle of abolition upon other 
nations, we were not speaking of evils which we 
had never known — we were not preaching tenets 
which we had not ourselves practised ; nor did 
we advise a system, the dangers and consequen- 
ces of which we had not already encountered. 
It migfht be said that this meeting would have no 
effect on America. He did not care, so far as 
they were individually concerned. It was at 
least a relief to his conscience, to testify to th& 
truth, though it should have no effect at all. It 
was still the duty of every Christian man, on eve- 
ry opportunity, to protest against the guilty phan- 
tasy, that man could hold property in man. It 
was true that slavery still existed in many parts 
of the world ; but our voices could not be heard 
jn Constantinople or St. Petersburgh, for they 
did not feel in common with us. But America 
shared with us in a comLion Christianity and a 
common freedom, and arguing with them upon 
the principles of eternal right, it was impossible 
it should be without effect. Whatever there was. 



94 MEETING AT 

in America of patriotism and philanthropy — what- 
ever of enlightened zeal — whatever of exertion 
— and it was much — for the diffusion of Christian 
truth — all was held in conjunction with a load of 
slavery, and they must either cast it from them, 
or perish along with it. (Lond cheers.) 

Bailie Macfarlan moved the third resolution. 

Resolved, That the accounts lately received from 
America regardine; the progress of this great question 
and the formation and extension of Anti-Slavery So- 
cieties in that country, are most satisfactory, and af- 
ford strong ground for hope, that the peaceful efforts 
of Christian philanthropists may, by the blessing of 
God, be successful in effecting the abolition of slave- 
ry, and rescuing the vast colored population from de- 
gradation, ignorance and vice. 

Mr. Thompson then rose to address the meet- 
ing in support of the last motion, and was receiv- 
ed with tremendous applause. He described in 
his usual felicitious manner, but much to the same 
effect as in his recent lectures, the state of feel- 
ing in America on the subject of slavery ; and 
showed the propriety, if not the absolute neces- 
sity of Britain sending her voice across the waters 
in condemnation of that anomalous feature of the 
American constitution ; and went over the various 
grounds for believing that the slaves in the Uni- 
ted States would, in the course of a few years 
be completely emancipated. 

On the motion of the Rev. John Ritchie, D. D. 
seconded by Adam Black, Esq., Treasurer of the 
City, 

Resolved, That the thanks of this Meeting be cor- 
dially given to George Thompson, Esq. for his intrep- 
id, able, and successful services in the cause oi 



EDINBURGH. 95 

Universal Emancipation, and particularly for his ar- 
duous and persevering exertions during his recen 
mission to the United States ot America. 

Thereafter, upon the motion of R. K. Greville, 
L. L. D., seconded by the Hon. Henry David 
Erskine, the thanks of the Meeting were given 
by acclamation to the Lord Provost" for his con- 
duct in the Chair, and for the interest he has uni- 
formly shown in the cause of Emancipation. 

JAMES SPITTAL, 
Lord Provost of Edinburgh. 



Mr. THOMPSON'S LECTURE, 

AT GLASGOW, SCOTLAND. 

On Tuesday, April 21, Mr. Thompson de- 
livered a lecture in Dr. Wardlaw's chapel. The 
admission was by tickets, on the usual terms. — 
There was a numerous and highly respectable 
audience. Besides the Committee, there were 
on the platform a number of other gentlemen of 
respectability. The topics discussed were : — 1. 
The present condition and prospects of the West 
Indies ; 2. Prejudice against color in America ; 
and, 3. The progress of the anti-slavery cause, 
and the growing triumphs over prejudice in the 
United State?. On these subjects, Mr. Thomp- 
son spoke for upwards of two hours and a half. 

The Rev. Dr. Wardlaw was voted to the Chair 
by acclamation. Dr. Wardlaw observed, that 
though it ever gave him the sincerest pleasure to 
be present on such occasions like that on xvhich 
they then met, yet he could not take the Chair, 
without regretting the absence of the venerable 
President, Robert Grahame, Esq., and his col- 
leagues as Vice Presidents, Drs. Heugh and Kids- 
ton. The absence of his much esteemed friends, 
Avas occasioned by no want of love for the cause 
about to be pleaded — far from it. The first-nam- 
ed gentleman was still in London, and the other 



MEETING AT GLASGOW, 97 

two were attending- a meeting of the Secession 
Synod in Edinburgh. Knowing, as he did, the 
views of his excellent friend who was about to 
speak, he could not help feeling that a cause was 
to be advocated which was closely allied with the 
doctrines regularly taught in that house. He had 
a few Sabbaths since remarked, that the first Gen- 
tile to whom an Apostle was specially commis- 
sioned to declare the Gospel, was a man of color, 
an Etliiopean Eunuch. (Applause.) Into his char- 
iot, the servant and the successor of Christ en- 
tered, witliout pride, and without prejudice, and 
preached unto him Jesus. (Applause.) He thought 
that the text, 'God hath made of one blood all 
nations of rnen, for to dwell on all the face of the 
earth,' might very appropriately be chosen as the 
theme for the night ; but he- would not forestall 
the remarks of the lecturer, nor longer occupy 
the time of the meeting. Without furtlier pre- 
face, he would once more introduce his (Dr. W's) 
and their beloved friend, Mr. George Thompson. 
(Applause.) 

Mr. Thompson rose, and was received with ev- 
ery demonstration of approbation. In attempting- 
a sketch of Mr. Thompson's very lengthened and 
animated address, avo can only profess to give a 
few of the facts with which the various topics 
brought forward were illustrated and supported. 
We cannot transfer to paper the glowing lan- 
guage or vivid thoughts of a speaker delivering 
himself with the rapidity and energy of Mr. T. 
The Lecturer observed, that he rose, oppressed 
by the magnitude and importance of the work 
before him. To describe the extent, force, cruel- 
ty, and wickedness of projudicc against color in 
America — the sorrows and sufferings of the three 
9 



98 MEETING AT 

millions who Avere its patient, unrevenging, and 
enduring victims — or rightly to advocate the 
claims of his brother, so toully and fiercely per- 
secuted by the demon, prejudice ; either of these 
was a task requiring- powers far greater than any 
he could pretend to employ. AH that he could 
do, however, in that, and in every other place, he 
would do, to disseminate the doctrine of a uni- 
versal brotherhood, and obtain the recognition, 
as a practical principle, of the beautiful text al- 
ready quoted, 'God hath made of one blood all 
nations of men.' Before he proceeded to take a 
view of the nature, operations, and cure of prej- 
udice, he should ask the attention of his auditory 
to a few facts respecting the West Indies. Doubt- 
less all who heard him, could remember how many 
were the predictions oi" ruin, desolation, the anni- 
hilation of commerce, the shedding of blood, &c. 
&.C., utterred by our West Indian opponents, who 
were wont to sit like ill-omened birds upon the 
crumbling battlements of their blood-cemented 
fabric, and croak forth their prophecies and male- 
dictions, if so be they might scare the timid, the 
wavering, and the credulous, from the work of 
mercy then in progress. Had these prophecies 
been verifid ? No; all, all, utterly falsified, and 
the oracles who uttered them, h« (JMr. T.) thank- 
ed God, had lived to see the reverse of all they 
had so confidently foretold. Instead of ruin — 
prosperity; instead of desolation — verdure and 
fertility; instead of pillage, spoliation, and rapine 
— honesty, truth, and attachment ; instead of a 
relapse into barbarism — a sudden merging forth 
from darkness and despair, with all their accom- 
panying misdeeds and miseries, into the hopes, 
occupations, and energies of civilized and useful 
life ; instead of servile commotion, pale fear, and 



GLASGOW. 99 

midnioht assault — a free and grateful peasantry, 
a secure and unsuspecting propriety, a tranquil 
and well ordered community ; instead of the 
glancing knii'e, the uplifted hatchet, the prowling 
bandit, and the shrieking victim — were seen the 
implements of willing husbandry, the negro seek- 
inu' at eve the bosom of a happy family, and those 
v/Lo once were visited by the tortures of conscious 
guilt, and fears of vengeance from an oppressed 
people, now rejoicing in security and anticipating 
tie rapid approach of still better days and more 
beautiful harvests. Such was the state of things 
in the West Indies with the abatement of the 
inconveniences, acts of injustice, cases of indi- 
vidual suffering, &c. &c., (and he confessed they 
Mere not few) that had grown out of that clumsy, 
unphilosophical, and iniquitous piece of machin- 
ery, by some called Stanleyism, but by my Lord 
Stanley and his abettors, called Apprenticeship. 
Mr. Thompson then proceeded to lay before the 
meeting a mass of evidence in support of his as- 
sertions. The following is an extract of a des- 
patch from the Marquis of Sligo, Governor of 
Jfimaica, to Lord Glenelg: — 

The following are a few memoranda respecting Jamai- 
ca, ilie resiill of some consideration and observation, 
combined with the best information that could be procur- 
ed:— 

1. Tiie quality of the sugar made this year, is bona 
fidf far superior to what has been heretofore made by 
night work on the majority of estates in this island. 

2. Tliere has been by far less slock lost in this year's 
crop than in that of preceding years, and in many places, 
it las been taken off by a smaller number. 

S. The stock are. generally speaking, in much belter 
coodilion this year, than they were at the close of any 
fonner year's crop, when they have been so weak that 
many of them have died in consequence. 



100 



MEETING AT 



4. That tho appreiilices generally are evidently becom-- 
ing more reconciled to the system, and work cheerfully (or 
money iiire, both night and day, and that they are beconfi- 
jng better behaved every dRy. 

5. That they may be expected still further to improve, 
as soon as they begin to feel the natural impetus of edu- 
cation and religion, and as they gel rid of the system of 
deceit which Slavery occasioned, in order to save ihein- 
from oppression. 

G. That several estates will exceed the present crop in 
the next year, and the majoiity will equal it. 

7. That when this is not the case, it can be traced to 
sufficient causes, independent of the loss of labor, whiih 
of course must have considerable effect, when it is recol- 
lected that on many estates the slaves were compelled not 
only to work da^' and niglit as long as nature would allow 
of it, and in such manner as their bodily endurance would 
permit, for the six week days, but were often compelltid 
to pot sugar on the Sunday. 

On the whole, I come to the conclusion, that the perfect 
success of the new system during the continuance of the 
apprenticeship, depends entirely on the con<iuct of tit«^ 
white people, and that if it fails, on them will rest the in- 
tire blame. (Signed) SLIGO. 

In proof of tho truth of what he lind said le- 
specting- the produce of tlie islands, Mr. T.woild 
submit, froii) official docu.nnents sent to the ht:)ine 
g-overnment , the aniomit of sncfar imported into 
the United Kingdom from tlie West Jndia Islands,, 
from 5th January, 1833, to 5th January, 1836. 



From Jan. 5, 1833. 
to Jan. 5, 1834. 

cwt. qr. lb. 
3,653,611 2 24 



From Jan. 5,1834, 
to Jan. 5. 1835. 



cwt. qr. 
3,844.371 3 



From Jan. 5.1f35, 
to Jan. 5, U36. 



cwt. qr. ll>. 
3,524,388 - 26 



Let it also be remembered that in some of he 
qolonies last year they had had much wet, and in 
others extreme drought. Mr. Thompson referred 
to certain returns from various parishes in Jainai- 



GLASGOW. 101 

ca, furnishing particulars respecting the condition 
of the past crop (1835,) and the prospects of tiie 
coming- crop. In tiie vast majority of instances 
the crop of last year was reputed to be 'over' 
that of the previous year. In some cases 12,000 
and 15,000 lbs. of sugar extra had been made. — 
With reference to the coming crop, and the con- 
dition of the plantations, the accounts were in 
general to the following effect: — 'Much improv- 
ed latterly.' ' Improvement.' ' Much improve- 
ment.' 'In most satisfactory condition.' 'Great 
prospect of abundance.' 'In fair forwardness.' 
' Unusual crop expected ; plough introduced for 
the first time, and much approved.' 'Property in 
better state than last year.' In other and smaller 
islands the effect has been equally striking and 
satisfactory. What were the brief but gratifying 
accounts from the Governors as furnished to the 
Colonial Secretary at home ? He (Mr. T.) held 
in his hand extracts from these despatches — 
Montserrat — ' Perfect state of tranquility.' 
Bahamas — ' Continued tranquility.' 
Nevis — 'Tranquility and good order.' 
Virgin Islands — 'Orderly and peaceable.' 
Dominica — 'Continued quiet.' 
St. Vincent — 'No insubordination.' 
Tobago — 'I am inclined to believe that the is- 
land of Tobago will be found second to none in 
point of good conduct on the part of the Appren- 
tices.' 

Trinidad — 'Realizes the most sanguine hopes 
of the promoters of the important change.' 

Honduras — ' Never behaved better, or so well 
before.' 

St. Lucia — 'Tranquil and orderly.' 
Demerara — 'I deem it my duty farther to re- 
mark to your Lordship, that since the Ist of Au- 
9* 



102 MEETING AT 

gust there has not been an instance of a white 
man upon an estate bein^r struck or ill-treated by 
a negro ; nor has a single building or corn-field 
been maliciously set fire to.' 

In reference to the comparative state of crime 
amongst the free inhabitants (white) and the ap- 
prentices, the colored population of the island, Mr. 
Thompson quoted the following extract from a 
letter published in Jamaica in January last : — 

I have been a keen observer of passing events since Ihe 
1st of August — I have noted almost every circumstance 
that reached the light, so far as the freed man and the 
apprentice are concerned, and on this head of crime I 
will give you my notes. 

From the 1st of August, 1834, to the meeting of the last 
Assizes, eight3'-one apprentices have been tried before the 
three Courts in the island. 

For the same period and before the same courtS; 35 Uee 
men. 

I will furnish you with a table of offences. 

Fjee. Apprentices. 
Cutting and maiming 
Manslaughter 
Larceny 
Assaults 
Riot 
Felony 

Receiving stolen goods 
Obstn. of Magistrates 
Murder 
Burglary 

Horse and Cattle stealing 
Sheep and Goat stealing 
Highway robbery 
Embezzlement 
Forgery 
Rape 

53 81 

In the above you will observe, that in the atrocious 
crimes of murder, manslaughter, felony, cutting and maim- 
ing, the poor apprentices, without the aid of educatio». 



1 





7 


2 


5 


35 


20 


8 





1 


2 





3 


1 


2 





2 


1 





7 


8 


20 





6 


1 








1 


1 





1 






GLASGOW. 103 

without the dawn of religion beaming on their souls, and 
lighting them to her ' paths of peace,' are considerably in 
the minority, and that the freemen with more adventitious 
advantages which their condition afford, stand foremost, 
and exhibit a lamentable contrast in the commital of hei- 
nous crimes, when arrayed with the poor, ignorant, forsak- 
en apprentices. 

Now, I will show the proportion of crime tfaat each class 
bears on its population. 
The Militia Return of 1834, which is composed 

entirely of free persons, is 10,000 

Supposed not doing duty, including women and 

children, little more than 4-5lhs 9,000 



19,000 

This makes crime, on the side of the free, about one in 
357. 

The last Registration of Apprentices 310,000 

Supposed to be manumised 2,000 



308,000 

This makes crime on the side of the apprentice, about 
1 in 3,802. 

In happy and enlightened England, ' 700 persons were 
put on their trial in the winters of 1830 and 1831, charged 
with rioting and arson, and of those 700, how many could 
read and write ? Only 150 — all the rest were marksmen.' 
Now, if nearly one-fifth of the number, or 214 in a 1000 
could read, and commit crimes in a country where educa- 
tion is Tile, is there not a legitimate ground of excuse for 
the apprentices, when we consider that education among 
them is in the ratio of about 19 in a thousand. 

Prejudice against Color. — One of the distin- 
guishing sins of America was prejudice atrainst 
color — a negro-hatint^ spirit. An unutterable 
loathing of the colored man, no matter what his 
virtues, his talents, his christian graces. An odi- 
ous aristocracy, founded upon the hue of the skin, 
the texture of the hair, the conformation of the 
shin-bone. Yes! there was a strait-haired, pale- 
skinned, short-heeled, high-nosed aristocracy in 
America — more exclusive, more oppressive, more 



104 MEETING AT 

tenacious, and more offensive than any aristocra- 
•cy of Rome, or Venice, or England, or France. — 
He (Mr. T.) firmly believed that there were thou- 
sands of professing christians in the United States, 
who would renounce Christ if it were demonstrat- 
ed that when on earth he tabernacled in the body 
of a colored man. In illustration of his subject, 
Mr. Thompson quoted a number of documents 
put forth by the American Colonization Society, 
the professing friends of the free colored race, in 
which they were described as 'a greater Nui- 
sance than even slaves themselves;' 'a horde of 
miserable people ;' 'a vile excrescence upon So- 
ciety ;'' a curse and contagion wherever they 
reside.' 'An anomalous race of beings, the most 
depraved upon earth ;' 'a mildew upon our fields, 
a scourge to our backs, (this, I think, said Mr. T. 
must be a misprint, it certainly should read a 
scourge to their haeks,) — (great laughter,) and a 
stain upon our escutcheon;' 'scarcely reached in 
their debasement by the heavenly light.' This 
prejudice, and the treatment occasioned by it, was 
vindicated by such men as the Rev. R.R.Gurley, 
Rev. Leonard Bacon, and the Hon. Mr. Calhoun, 
United States Senator, on the grounds of neces- 
sity,' 'divine ordination,' 'a primitive, inherent, 
invincible antipathy,' &c. &c. &c. It required 
no argument to prove the tendency of this preju- 
dice to blunt the sympathies ; to call off the at- 
tention from the woes and wants, and claims of 
the colored people ; to paralyze benevolence ; to 
darken the mental vision, and to injure the moral 
sense. Indeed he (Mr. T.) had been filled with 
sorrow and astonishment, to perceive the awful 
lengths to which otherwise good men would go 
in the perversion of Scripture, and the destruc- 
tion of the moral obligations, under the influence 



GLASGOW. 105 

of this prejudice against color. One of the fruits 
of prejudice, was the Colonization Society — an 
institution called into being by prejudice; based 
upon prejudice; appealing to prejudice; acting 
in accordance with the demands of prejudice ; 
ever seeking to gratify prejudice, and incapable 
of existence, Vv'ithout the aid of prejudice. The 
white man did not more loath, shun, and detest 
the colored man, than did the colored man abhor 
the Colonization Society. It was equally abhorred 
by all the enlightened and sincere friends of the 
colored people. Mr. Thompson dwelt at length 
upon the sufferings, physical and mental, inflicted 
upon the colored people by this prejudice, and 
related a great number of anecdotes, of the most 
aftecting nature. These'we cannot find room to 
report. TJiey produced a deep impression upon 
the meeting, and filled all with sorrow and indig- 
nation, at the existence of so cruel and crusliing 
a feehng amongst a people professedly christian. 
' Who are they,' enquired Mr. Thompson, 'who 
nre thus treated? ' Do they want intellect. No. 
Here the lecturer dwelt upon the past greatness, 
and present capacity of tlie African, and gave 
some touching and sublime illustrations of the 
intelh^ctual and moral character of the negro. — 
Mr. Thompson here read an extract from a work 
the Costume of the Ancients — by Thomas Hope, 
2 vol. — London, 1812, page 1. 'The ancient 
Egyptians were descended from the Ethiopians, 
and while their blond remained free from any mix- 
ture with that of European or Asiatic nations, 
their race seems to have retained obvious traces 
of the aboriginal negro form and features. Not 
only all the human figures in their colored hyero- 
glyphics display a deep swarthy complexion, but 
every Egyptian monument whether statue or bass- 



X06 MEETING AT 

relief, presents the splay feet, the spreading toes, 
the bow-bent shins, the hjoh meagre calves, the 
lono- swincrin^ arms, the sharp shoulders, the 
..qiuare flutliands, the head when seen prohle, 
placed not vertically but obliquely on the spine, 
the iaws and chin consequently very prominent, 
too-ether with the skinny lips, depressed nose, high 
cheek bones, large unhemmed ears raised lar 
above the level of the nostrils, and all the other 
peculiarities characteristic of the negro contor- 
mation. It is true the practice prevalent among 
the Ecrvptians of shaving their heads and beards 
close to the skin, (which thoy only deviated from 
when in mourning,) seldom allows their statues 
to shew that most undeniable symptom of negro 
extraction, the woolly hair; the heads of their 
fio-ures generally appearing covered with sorne 
sort of cap, or when bare, closely shaven. In the 
few Eo-pytian sculptured personages, however, in 
which'the hair is introduced, it uniformly ofiers 
the woolly texture, and the short crisp curls ot 
that of the negroes ; nor do I know a single speci- 
men of genuine Egpytian workmanship, in which 
are seen^any indications of the long sleek hair,^or 
loose wavv rinirlets of Europeans or Asiatics. — 
Do they want \rratitude? No. Here also Mr. 
Thompson introduced a number of interesting 
facts detailing his own experience in America, 
and shewino-'the brave and generous attachment 
of the free'colored people to his Person. Are 
they sanguinary? No. Here Mr. Thompson 
referred to their conduct under the most cruel and 
unprovoked persecutions, and challenged Ameri- 
ca to point to one instance of bloody retaliation 

Mr. Thompson also read some hicrhly niterest- 
incr extracts from a letter of the Rev. N. Paul and 
his lady. We have only room to notice one state- 



GLASGOW. 



107 



ment, that the Colored people of Albany, in the 
state of Nevv--York, had formed an Anti-Slavery 
Society of 300 members, and had called it the 
Thompson Abolition Society.' The readino- of 
Mr. and Mrs. Paul's letter excited much interest, 
this truly estimable and pious couple havino- left 
many friends behind them in this city. "^ 

Mr. T. concluded his lecture by uro-in^ his au- 
ditory to continued and zealous efforts in the 
cause of Emancipation ; ^hich called forth enthu- 
siastic applause. 

_ Mr. Thompson stated his intention to deliver 
in a few days, a lecture to the ladies of Glasgow 
and its vicinity, on the subject of American Sla- 
very, with a view to stimulate them to exertion in 
support of the great work which the Emancipa- 
tion Society contemplates. The meeting then 
separated. ^ 



MEETING AT NEWCASTLE. 

We take the following- account of Mr. Thomp- 
son's visit to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and a sketch 
of that gentleman's speech at the Peace Meeting-, 
from the Tyne Mercury of April 12. 

Mr. Thompson, during the last two weeks, has 
afforded to the inhabitants of Newcastle a high 
intellectual treat. He is one of the most power- 
ful and accomplished orators that ever graced a 
platform ; but, above all, his modest demeanor, 
his christian beneficence towards all, and particu- 
larly his ardent and well directed advocacy of the 
oppressed Negro in our Colonies and in iVmerica, 
have left an impression on the minds of his nu- 
merous and crowded audiences tiiat will not read- 
ily be effaced, and has given such an impetus to 
the Anti-Slavery Societies of Newcastle, as it is 
hoped will not be abated until the last link of the 
last chain of Slavery throughout the world is 
broken. Mr. Thompson also delivered speeches 
at two Missionary meetings and at meetings of 
the Temperance and Peace Societies, crowded 
almost to suffocation. It is impossible to describe 
the pleasing and fascinating effect of his elo- 
quence ; it must be heard tp give a correct idea 
of it 



MEETING AT NEWCASTLE, 109 

SOCIETY EOR THE PROMOTIOM OF PERMANEINT 
AND UN1VEE.SAL PEACE, 

On Thursday evening* last, the anniversary 
meeting of the above society was held at Bruns- 
wick Place Chapel the Rev. Mr. Pengilly in the 
chair. The Chairman, in opening' the business, 
briefly commented on the horrid nature of war, as 
being opposed to the spirit of Christianity ; and 
intimated to the meeting that their respected friend 
Mr. Pilkington, and the able and eloquent advo- 
cate of Universal Emancipation, Mr. George 
Thompson, would address them on the occasion. 

The Rev. Mr. Orange then read the report, 
which congratulated the nation on the preserva- 
tion of peace ; and Mr. Priestman having read 
the treasurer's account, which left a balance of 
£6 in the society's hands, the Rev. JMr. Reid mo- 
ved that the report read be adopted, which was 
seconded by Mr. Priestman. 

Mr. Geo. Richardson moved the second reso- 
lution, in an appropriate speech, which was sec- 
onded by Mr, Pilkington. 

The Rev. Mr. Orange moved the next resolu- 
tion, and complimented the nation on its com- 
mercial prosperity, and stated that since peace 
had been established taxes to the amount of elev- 
en millions of money had been repealed ; after 
which 

Mr. Thompson rose to second the motion, and 
was received with enthusiastic applause. When 
recently invited to visit Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 
(said Mr, T,) he had no idea of being so fre- 
quently called upon to appear before public as- 

10 



11€ MEETING AT 

semblies — nor of the variety of benevolent enter- 
prises, it would be kis privilege to recommend 
to the countenance and care of ihose whome he 
had the honor to address. He gladly consented 
to plead the cause of Education amongst the Ne- 
groes of the British Colonies — as gladly did he 
stand forth as the advocate of Universal Emanci- 
pation, and he rejoiced that Societies had been 
formed to advance that glorious object. He had 
also with much readiness appeared as the advo- 
,cate of the immediate and entire abolition of the 
guilty, degrading and voluntary bondage of intem- 
perance. He could, however, truly say, that 
with equal pleasure, he stood forth as the advo- 
cate of the principles of permanent and universal 
peace. Though he had only once before appear- 
ed on the plattorm of the Peace Society, he had 
frequently introduced the subject, incidentally, 
into his public addresses, and he trusted he should 
suffer no opportunity of recommending the prin- 
ciples of the Society to pass unimproved. He 
(Mr. T.) carried his Peace principles to the fullest 
possible extent. He considered war unlawful, 
under all possible, all conceivable circumstances. 
He denied the right of any mortal man to 
take the life of another. (Approbation.). In tak- 
ing these views of war, and punishment, and 
self defence, he of course, stood upon ChrisUan 
principles. He spoke as a christian to christian 
men. He asked ' what is it to be a christian ? ' 
the reply was to be like Christ. In reference, 
therefore, to any circumstances in which he 
might be placed he had but to set the example of 
his divine Redeemer before him, and ask ' How 
would he have acted in such circumstances?' 
So doing he (Mr. T.) seldom found any difficultv 
in deciding. He confessed, that in lookinir over 



NEWCASTLE. Ill 

the face of his beloved conntry, he cniild net join 
M'ith those who called it a christian coimtnj. 
In every direction he saw the pnraphernalia of 
■war, offensive and defensive. Our history was 
a history of bloody wars. The demon of desola- 
tion had deprived us of £400,000,000 sterlinjr of 
treasure, and of 200,000,000 of our sons. Call us 
a nation of civilized savagfes, of wholesale butch- 
ers, of sanguinary, unappeasable murderers, but 
call us not a nation of chrisfimis till we have 
more consistently exemplified the doctrines of 
the prince of peace! He miofht if he had time, 
dwell upon the causes, preliminaries, progress, 
consummation, and consequences of war, and 
show that in its principles, participations, and ef- 
fects, it was 'evil' and 'only evil.' This work 
he believed, however, had been done thorouo-hly 
by his friend, Mr. Pilkington. He regretted that 
such false views of honor and glory were enter- 
tained by youth generally. He believed, howev- 
er, that the patriotism and courage of our modern 
warriors were in most instances inspired by the 
extrinsic blandishments of the profession. See 
yonder troop exciting the admiration of a gap- 
ing crowd — every female sisfhing for a hero as 
her lover, and every bumpkin panting to share 

' The glory and the guilt of war.' 

What is it thus vSteals away their hearts ? Is it 
love of country ? No. Is it hatred of their coun- 
try's foes ? No. What then ? The martial mu- 
sic — the stately tramp — the nodding plume — the 
waving banner — the crimson sash — the worsted 
epaulette; — these were the things in which the 
charms of a military life were found. Instead of 
the ordinary aids, and garnishings, and imple- 



1 12 MEETING AT 

ments of war, let them be sent into the field in 
ordinary apparel, with no other weapons but those 
whicii nature has given them ; and let them, at 
some signal, fly at each other's throats, with tooth 
and nail, and gnaw and claw, and beat and bruise, 
until they were tired; and he believed that wars 
would be less frequent, less popular, loss destruc- 
tive, and certainly less expensive. The fact was, 
tiiat war depended very much for its attractions, 
upon worsted, and broadcloth, and parchment, and 
Day & Martin's blacking. All these things he 
considered vain, guilty, and anti-christian. Chris- 
tianity was the same now in spirit as it was of old, 
and he adverted to the opinions of some men of 
the most celebrated piety and learning, whose 
declarations against war were, 'that as christians, 
they could not, dare not, or would not fight,' and 
were they then at this present period still 
upholding a system that our fathers of old so bold- 
ly denounced ? The principle of the christian 
was not to resist evil, but to overcome evil with 
good — to love their enemies, and love them even 
as friends. Who could stand on more elevated 
ground ? Mr. Thompson then cited a case'arising 
from the supposition of some valiant youth being 
then present who was thirsting for glory, and 
might think that he (Mr. T.) was a coward and a 
pretty fellow to be a defender of his country. He 
would say to that young person that it required 
more courage to be a man of peace than a man of 
war. He w«uld tell him that he could walk on 
the most barren and lonely htiath at night, where 
the gibbet swung and the footpad lay in ambush, 
with a calm and steady purpose, without a single 
weapon of defence ; while others armed them- 
B("^lves for their protection. Still pursuing his 
solitary course, the footpads mark his coming, and 



NEWCASTLE. 



113 



by the beams of the moon they mark his person. 
Having- come up they demand his purse or life. 
The man of peace gives up his purse as trash, and 
is permitted to pass without further harm. Not 
so with the person armed — the footpads note his 
weapons, and lie concealed lest they should be 
the injured instead of injuring; they mark him for 
their deadly aim, and both murder and rob him. 
Thus we see the man of peace succeeds, and 
quietly passes on. trusting in the potency of his 
principles. Mr. T. cited one or two more cases 
where the man of peace trusted not on worldly 
assistance for protection, and observed that he re- 
lied on the promises of God, who had numbered 
the hairs of their heads, and permitted not a spar, 
and the first man that was killed on the settle- 
ment was shot by an Indian who thought the man 
was going to kill him. In the Irish rebellion the 
dwellings of 'The Friends' were spared; and in 
America any one acquainted with its history would 
see that those persons possessinsf peace principles 
conciliated the Indians. In Massachusetts, he 
learned the history of a farmer, whom the Indian 
savages never harmed, while they pillao-ed and 
murdered his neighbors around — they never pass- 
ed his cot without calling Iiirn the man of peace. 
While the lamented Richard Lander was wan- 
dering in the interior of Africa, he was suddenly 
surrounded by hundreds of savages, who at the 
sign of their chief levelled their arrows dipped 
with poison at our countryman, and at another sign 
the arrows would have pierced his body, but that 
Lander had the presence of mind to fling instant- 
ly from him on the ground his arms, and with 
open hands approached the chief, who at another 
given signal caused the arrows to be pointed to 
the ground. Thus he had the practical uses of 
10* 



114 MEETING AT 

the society developed fully in those facts. It had 
teen said, that if England did not fight she was 
liable to be invaded by every ambitious tyrant. 
He (Mr. T.) would like to see an Armada ap- 
proaching our isle to attack a nation of peaceful 
men and women. The principles of peace should 
be disseminated and cultivated all over the world ; 
nations should act as individuals, and that time 
would soon approach — the triumphs of the Mille- 
nium. The passage of scripture referred to by 
Mr. Pilkington, viz : — ' whosoever sheddeth man's 
blood by man shall his blood be shed,' was now, 
he considered, as a law merely to gratify the am- 
bition of man. Some would go on doubting, al- 
though 999 points out of a thousand were made 
clear to them, yet, who would still act upon the 
one that was doubtful ; and although that doubt 
might be resolved, yet still they would go on kill- 
ing all the time. Man for his purposes would go 
as far back as the antediluvian times, to quote for 
authority to kill. Mr. T. then contended that the 
milder the laws were, the more efficient would 
they be found, and related an interesting fact 
which occurred in America, in a prison at Con- 
necticut, the master of which was noted for his 
mild discipline, and kind and benevolent disposi- 
tion. It happened that some prisoners, who had 
been employed in some public works that had just 
been finished, were removed into the custody of 
this gaoler. Previous to their arrival lie had re- 
ceived a book of their names, detailing the nature 
of their character and eonduct. Among them 
was a very old man, who had been 17 years a 
prisoner, and who was set forth to be incorrigible 
and totally irreclaimable. This old man was 
brought to him heavily laden with irons, and when 
the masteV cast his eyes upon him, he instantly 



NEWCASTLE. 115 

ordered them to be knocked off, and going up to 
him, said, ' Old man, you are old enough to be 
my father, and those chains are not fit for you.' 
The man stood stupified and amazed, but did not 
utter a word. The master of the gaol after this 
sent for the old man to come into his private room, 
to hear the orders and discipline of the prison 
read over. He was then sent to work ; and for 
two months this man conducted himself with sat- 
isfaction. After this period, however, the master 
had twice observed some faults committed by him, 
and again sent for him and remonstrated with him 
in kind terms. The master charged him with a 
breach of the prison laws, and told the old man 
that he might punish him for the offence by send- 
ing him to a cell where the light of heaven never 
entered, and the human voice was never heard ; 
but to an old man like him he could not do it. — 
The old man again stared in astonishment, and 
at last ejaculated ' what did he mean — for he had 
never for 17 long years heard tones of kindness 
used towards him ; he could boar the whip, the 
irons, and even the gallows itself, but this mark 
of kindness he could not bear,' and he burst into 
tears. Let us learn from this fact to try the mild- 
er system before the severe and harsh one. It 
was natural for them to be ruled by love more 
than by fear; every thing in creation showed tiiis 
fact. If this principle was taken up, how soon 
would it spread into their system of educa- 
tion, and even into their legislature, for he re- 
gretted to say, they had not as yet received this 
great moral and religious principle. Mr. T. then 
ridiculed the idea of chivalry and deeds of fame> 
and illustrated the state of feelings which per- 
vaded the breasts of thousands the moment be- 
fore the battle, when the trumpet's shrill blast 



116 MEETING AT NEWCASTLE. 

was echoing from line to line, the drum rolling 
and the banner waving, and all arrayed — 

' Big with the fate of Calo and of Rome.' 

At that moment what thoughts of home have oc- 
cupied the soldier's breast, and of his fate wheth- 
er he would return or not. Mr. T., after a few 
more remarks, concluded a highly interesting, 
powerful, and eloquent speech, by exhorting the 
audience as christians to support the propagation 
of peace, — for if all societies acted upon the truth 
of the gospel they would all become peace socie- 
ties. Let the cruelty of slavery and the despot- 
ism of war be linked together, and banished into 
that hell whence they originated. He would now 
part from them in peace. He had first come to 
appeal for the oppressed slave, however feeble 
Iiis efforts had been, and he now left them advo- 
cates of the cause of universal peace. 



MR. THOMPSON'S 
FIRST LECTURE, 

BEFORE THE GLASGOW EMANCIPATION 
SOCIETY. 

A meetiniy of the members and friends of the 
Glasg-ow p]mancipat!on Society was held in the 
Rev. Dr. Wardlaw's chapel, on Friday evening-^ 
Jan. 29, when Mr. Tiiompson delivered an address 
on the subject of his Anti-Slavery mission to the 
United States. Owing to the great anxiety to hear 
Mr. Thompson, the Committee considered it prop- 
er that the admission should be by tickets only, 
in order to prevent injury to the chapel and to 
preserve order. The doors of the chapel were 
opened at 6 o'clock, before which time a large 
crowd, anxious to obtain good seats, were waiting 
outside. Long before seven the church was filled 
with a most respectable audience, among whom 
we observed many of our fellow-citizens, well 
known for their active philanthropy. At 7 o'clock, 

Mr. G. Thompsox, accompanied by the Com- 
mittee, entered the Chapel. He was immediate- 
ly recognised, and was received Avith repeated 
and enthusiastic bursts of applause. 

James Johnstoiv, Esq., moved that the Rev. 
Dr. Heugh take tlie chair as Vice-President of 



118 MEETING AT 

the Society. The motion was agreed to by ac- 
clamation. 

The Chairman, (Dr. Heugli) said — Ladies and 
gentlemen, in common with all who hear nie, I 
regret the absence of our respected president^ 
whom no obstruction which it was in his power 
to overcome could have kept from occupying hia 
place among us this evening. His ardor in the 
cause of humanity and freedom is not less intense 
in his old age, than in the best days of his youth 
and manhood ; and the hoary head of Robert 
Grahame will not be the less honored on this 
account by his friends and fellow citizens of 
Glasgow. (Long and loud cheering.) We must 
all deeply regret too, the absence of our senior 
Vice-President, Dr.VVardlaw, who has stood for- 
ward in the cause of negro freedom with so much 
Christian principle, fervor, and intrepidity ; who 
has lent the aid of his great talents to this sa- 
cred cause, amidst good report and bad report, 
and who would have filled the chair this evening, 
as he fills every public situation he is called to 
occupy, with honor to himself and delight to all 
who hear him — (cheers.) Ladios and gentlemen, 
you are assembled this evening to see again — and 
that is no small privilege — our well-known friend 
before you, (cheers) of whom, in his presence, I 
cannot trust myself to speak as I would were he 
absent, but whose eulogiuni it is unnecessary 
for me to attempt to pronounce in a meeting of 
my fellow-citizens of Glasgow assembled in this 
place, the well remembered scene of his former 
eloquent pleadiufja, protracted conflicts, and de- 
cisive and splendid triumph. Mr. T. returns to ua 
from the American shores, with his name and his 
well earned fame untarnished. He has neither 
been defeated nor dishonored. He has retreat- 



GLASGOW. 119 

ed, not fled, from America. He has retreated, 
by the urgency of friends, from lawless physical 
violence ; but he has never fled, and, if I mistake 
him not, he never will flee from any field of fair 
intellectual conflict. (Cheers.) He never went 
thither for the purpose of physical warfare, to fight 
the pro-slavery men with the fist, or the poignard, 
or the firelock ; he went to proclaim in the ears 
of America the voice of truth, and humanity ; and 
thousands and tens of thousands of tiie best and 
most enlightened citizens of that country bear 
him witness that he has nobly fulfilled his 
Mission; fori am confident, that documentary 
evidence, of the most unqucstional)le charac- 
ter, will support me, when I say, that when brute 
violence was not interposed against his per- 
son, and in every instance in which the conflict 
was mental alone, his success has not been less 
signal in America, than at any period of his career 
in Great Britain. (Cheers,) But J shall not do vi- 
olence to my own feelings, and to your wishes by 
detaining you longer from hearing Mr. Thompson. 

Mr. Tmompso>', on advancing to the front of 
the platform, was loudly cheered. It was with 
unspeakable joy, he said, that he once more rose 
to address the friends of freedom and humanity 
in this city — within these walls — these walls 
where they had so often met before to fight the 
battle of universal freedom, and to overcome with 
spiritual weapons the foes of human rights. — 
(Cheers.) He appeared before them to surren- 
der into their hands the trust they had reposed in 
hiin — to give a faithful account of his Steward- 
ship, during nearly two years he had been their 
representative in a foreign land, and to render a 
strict account of all his words, all his actions, all 
his plans, and all his purposes, since he bade fare- 



120 MEETING AT 

well to his kind friends in this country, and sailed 
across the Atlantic for the United States of Amer- 
ica, there to represent their wishes and prayer?, 
and to preach tidings of humanity. Wlien they 
tirst commissioned him on this errand of mercy, 
they promised to assist him with their sympathies 
and prayers. Tliey bestowed upon him an unre- 
served and a generous confidence — they pledged 
themselves to co-operate with him zealou&ly and 
unremittingly, while laboring in a distant and 
dangerous field, grappling with the monster, Sla- 
very — face to face, and nobly they had redeemed 
their pledge ; they had been true to their cause — 
true to him ; they were still true to their cause, 
they still abode by the standard which had been 
planted in this city, and which, he hoped, would 
never be deserted while a single shackle remain- 
ed on the mind or the body of a living being. 
(Tremendous cheering.) They were still true to 
the negro's humble but sincere advocate ; they 
still greeted him with smiles, still animated him 
by applause. Thank God, he was able to appenr 
before them with clean hands ; he had done his 
duty as far as he could, and now, returning from 
the field of conflict, he had nothing to conceal — 
nothing to disguise — nothing to extenuate — noth- 
ing for which to ask forgiveness. He had only to 
deliver a plain unvarnished statement of what his 
eyes had seen and his ears had heard. He v/ould 
give an account of the astonishing progress of the 
cause, and he doubted not that before the end of 
his addresses, they vvould be convinced that, since 
the amelioration ot the moral and physical condi- 
tion of the human race had first engaged the at- 
tention of philanthropists, never had a greater 
work been accomplished, unaided by mirncies, in 
so short a period. (Immense cheering.) If there 



ttLASGOW. 121 

be any individual present who may think that he 
(Mr. Thompson) had accomplished nothing — that 
his enunciation of those principles which these 
walls have so often echoed, was altogether fruit- 
less — he would only ask him to return again and 
again to these lectures in order that he might be 
undeceived. Tiie history of the abolition ques- 
tion was interesting and important on many- 
grounds. 

ist, as an exhibition of contemporaheoua evenU, 
appertaining to the freedom and happiness of a 
large portion of the human race. 

2d, as connected with the history of Republi- 
can America, which in its fate was ordained deep* 
]y and widely to affect all other nations — (cheers.) 

3d, as connected with that particular branch of 
human freedom, lor which we have struggled, and 
for which wc will be found struggling while a fet- 
ter remains on the limbs or on the conscience of 
a human being. The question was also interest- 
ing from its developing, as had never been done 
before, the method by which a great moral revo- 
lution might be carried on, and prejudices the 
most stubborn and deep rooted, might be utterly 
destroyed. 

It might be asked vv'hat interest had they in 
this question? He would answer that the ques- 
tion was interesting to all, in so far as it proved, 
more fully than any other modern reformation, 
the potency of truth — or, in words which would 
be understood by every one, it showed what mar- 
vellous results had been effected by what was 
afore-time called the ' foolishness of preaching.* 
It was interesting, as bringing ihern to an ac- 
quaintance with some of tiie finest specimens of 
the human race, or, as their worthy Vice Presi- 
dent on a late occasion had styled them, th« 
11 



J23 MEETING AT 

* Grandees of nature.' The speaker Lero, allud- 
inff to the American Abolitionists, broke out into 
a highly-Avrought and splendid apostrophy whicli 
we need not attempt to report. He then proceed- 
ed :_Tiie topic was also interesting, from its be- 
ing connected with those benevolent and religious 
eiiterprises in which the christians of this country 
were so closely united with those of America, and 
in which they would perse\ ere till the last idol 
tumbled to the ground, and every human spirit was 
idluminated with the light of divine truth. It was 
finally interesting on account of its exhibiting 
conduct, on the other side of the A lantic, which 
we would do well to imitate. Yes! they would 
do well to follow the noble example ot tiiose who 
fought the battle of humanity against the despot- 
ism of the western hemisphere. But he stood 
not there to traduce Amenca-Ood iorbi.l. U 
was true that he had been persecuted reviled, 
and hunted from its shores ; he trusted, however 
that those who had so acted towards him would 
yet see their error, and would discover that 
he had never been their enemy. It was true, 
he was not accustomed to call things otl.cr- 
wise than by tb.eir proper names, lie always 
called a spade a spade, bf cause it was always 
a spade. Slavery he would call by its own name, 
wherever it was, wore it even at the iiorns 
of the altar; and he would calj a despot, a 
despot, though by profession a republican, lie 
would call America a wicked nation— a hissing 
and a bye-word throughout the whole civilized 
world. ' In the statements he wa? about to make, 
he would draw his facts entirely from American 
documents — iVom newspapers and other periodi- 
cals written and printed by Americans. It was^ 
with rt-gret he stated these things regarding 



GLASGOW. 123 

that'conntry. He admired and loved America- 
he liat h1 not lier sons, but her sins — he only war- 
red a/jainst those customs which endangered lier 
institutions — he wished to remove that foul blot 
which marred her beauty, that excrescence in the 
body politic, which, if removed, would restore 
that nation to more than prisiine grandeur and 
beauty, and enable it to stand forth a beacon and 
a blessing to the world. 

He could sincerely say in Scotland e/" Amerien, 
what on the oiher side of the Atlantic he had de- 
clared to America. 

I love \hee : — \\itnpss lieaven above. 

Thai I this land, this people love ; 

And rail my slamlerers as ihey will, 

(Columbia, I will love thee still. 

Nor love thee less when I do tell 

Of crimes that in thy bosom dwell. 

O ! that my weakest word might roll, 

LiUe heaven's own thunder through thy soul ! 

'JMicre is oppression in thine hand — 

A sin corrupting all the land ; 

'J'liere is within thy gales a pest, 

Gold, and a Babylonish vest; 

Not iiid in shame-coneealing shade, 

fUit broad against the sun display'd 3 

Uepcnt thee then, and swiftly bring 

Forth from the camp the accursed thing j 

Consign it to remorseless fire, 

W'atcii till the latest spark expire, 

Then strew its ashes on the wind, 

Nor leave an atom wreck behind, 

So shall thy power and wealth increase: 

So shall tiiy people dwell in peace ! 

On thee tiie Almighty's glory rest, 

And all the earth in iliee be blest ! 

He had now expressed his worst wish towards 
America. Thank lieaven, those who knew him 
loved him. There were but two parties in Amer- 
ica. The one loved him, and would die for him ; 



124 MEETING AT 

the other hated him, and would very willingly, 
were they able, toss him into the bottomless pit. 
Looking to America, the greatness of its present 
state, and its yet greater prospects, who would 
not say that it was a nation well worth caring for; 
exalted in arts, invincible in arms, secure from in- 
vasion, almost illimitable in territory, there was 
scarcely a nation to compare with it; possessing 
extensive commerce, rich in cultivation, with a 
vast and increasing population, powerful in for- 
eign relations, and having a constitution so ex- 
cellent that he, though attached to a monarchical 
form of government, considered it the noblest 
constitution in the world. Look again to her 
granaries overflowing with the produce of the 
country; her custom-houses teeming with the 
merchandise of the world ; and they would not 
consider it exaggeration should he say that Amer- 
ica was scarcely second to any country on earth. 
Should there be an American present in this 
meeting he hoped that while he bore away his 
reproaches, he would also bear witness that he 
spoke well of his country. Yet America was 
more guilty — ay, greatly the more guilty, on this 
account. Not content with all the natural advan- 
tages which she possessed, with the blessings of 
free industry and honest trade, America — Chris- 
tian America — Republican America, traffics in the 
souls and bodies of men. More than a 6th of the 
population of America were tlie most abject 
slaves that crawled on the face of the earth — they 
were mere chattels ; they could do nothing but 
what their masters permitted; thoy possessed 
nothing but what their masters could claim. Nor 
was the slave trade at an end. He needed not 
to point to those infamous and brutalising scenes, 
the slave auctions which took place et Charles- 



GLASGOW. 125 

ton, and Alexandria, Richmond and New-Orleans 
— to the horrors of the slave ship, that nearest 
resemblance to a pandemonium — or to speak of 
200 infants born daily to no better portion than 
to the most abject and unmitigated thraldom. 
And all this was in America, with her wealth, her 
merchandise, her floating navies, her invincible 
volunteers, her missions, her bibles, and her boasts 
on the 4th of July, and on every other day, and 
hour, and minute, and moment, throughout the 
year, that she was the freeest nation on the face of 
the earth, (cheers.) Before going farther (said 
Mr. T.) it might not be amiss to state precisely 
what was the object he had sought to obtain in 
his late mission. That object was two fold ; first, 
to bear faitiiful testimony against prejudice of 
color, a crime not surpassed by that of slavery. 
To treat human beings with coldness or unkind- 
ness, on account of their difference of color, was 
the greatest offence of which man could be 
guilty. It was blasphemous for man thus to ad- 
dress the Deity, as it were, and siay, you have 
made this man of a different hue, and, therefore, 
he shall not sit in the same pew, nor travel in the 
same coach, nor sail in the same steamboat ; 
there shall be a gulph betwixt us as wide and im- 
passable as that betwixt the Soodrah and the 
Brahmin. This prejudice was the foundation of 
slavery ; it was infused by mothers into the minds 
of their children, it grew with their growth, and 
strengthened with their strength. But were an 
end once put to this prejudice, the demon of sla- 
very would soon flap its black wings and fly to that 
nethermost hell where it was born and nurtured. 

Another object was to wage a war of extermina- 
tion with slavery. He went to America, and when 
he got there he found every possible prejudice ar- 
il* 



126 MEETING AT 

rayed against him. These prejudices had given 
rise, ill the minds of some, to a very strange land 
of patriotism, which sought to break the heads of 
all tliose who were laboring to break the bonds 
of slavery. He had to wage war with the tyrani- 
cal and bigoted slaveholders of the Southern 
States, and with their minions in the north. He 
went with no party connection, witiiout wealth, 
no arms, no diplomatic appointment, no introduc- 
tion to great men. He had resolved to idenf.ify 
himself witJi no p'olitical party, but to cry aloud, 
' open the prison doors and let the oppressed go 
fi-ee.^ He had no seals, but those so kindly pre- 
sented to him by his friends in this city, and these, 
though precious to him, were of no value in 
America. He went, however, with the prayers 
of the friends of freedom, the ridicule of his en- 
emies, and the pity of many who thought him well 
meaning, perhaps, but notoverwise. It might be 
asked, whence tijsn did he look for success, see- 
ing that he went so unsupported ? His answer 
M'as, thnt he looked for support from the invinci- 
ble nature of truth. He had ever been of opin- 
ion tiiat the truth of God, without tlie mixture of 
human wisdotn, must bring forth good fruits. To 
near sighted men, the immediate result might 
seem dreadful; but he felt satisfied that in all 
such cases the ultimate consequence Avould be 
beneficial. He would recommend all apostles of 
freedom in this country not to become back stairs 
suplicants to a minister. Fir-^t let them try the 
effect of truth on the mass. First affect the base 
of the pyramid, and the apex v.ould soon be made 
to topple. This was the mode he had followed 
in America, and with astonishing success. Some, 
indeed, had told him he was mad. Public opin- 
on was against him. He had asked what made 



GLASGOW. 127 

})ublic opinion. Was it not talking? wrs it not 
listening to wliatwas said by wives and mothers, 
and by those who ex])ected, if not already wives 
or mothers, to become so ? Tiiose were the ma- 
kers of public opinion. These hisd made it what 
it was, and they could unmake it if it was "svrong. 
Ministers, Legislators, and Lawyers, made anoth- 
er sort of public apinion. As a nobie example of a 
single individual wtirring- with public opinion, and 
finally overcoming it, by his individual, unaided 
energies, Mr. Thompson, in a brilliant passage, 
referred to the case of the famous ivlartin Luther. 
For ills own part, he said, he was not fond of 
rowing with the tide. He preferred having some- 
thing to row against. If he was called to argue, 
give him an opponent; if to grapple, let him not 
fight the air. Public opinion was against the 
fisiiiermen of Galilee. Lideed, public opinion has 
ever been against reformers. The question is 
not whether public opinion is or is not against us, 
but whether we be right or wrong. He might 
b^ told, then, tliat^-in going to America he had no 
prospect of succeeding. He could only answer 
that he did not go to gain popularity. Had he 
(the eloquent Lecturer) Avished to become popu- 
lar, he knew, at least he thought, it was not yet 
too late f(jr him to get into favor with the Amer- 
icans. Had he only recanted — had he but chang- 
ed his opinions with regard to immediate abolition, 
he might have rode on the high tide of popularity 
from The one end of the United States to the 
other. But why should he have wished to be- 
come popular, u'^aless for the purpose of gaining 
ease or lucre? With regard to case, no man 
who set a value upon it would advocate abolition. 
He had, during tliirteen months, delivered be- 
tween f^OO and 300 public addresses; and as for 



1^ MEETING AT 

affluence, had he wanted a morsel of bread he 
could have got it at home. Why then did he go ? 
and why did they send him ? It was because 
they loved mankind — it was because they loved 
liberty ; — it was because they pitied the slave ; — 
it was because they had tested the power of truth 
when plainly spoken, to overcome the most gigan- 
tic interests, and to bow a nation, a parliament, 
and a throne, before the dictates of truth and hu- 
manity. He went to America, because he was 
likely there to find a field of labor in the sacred 
cause of abolition. Glasgow had said, go: Edin- 
burgh had said, go ; England had said, go ; and 
Ireland had said, ^o — ^(Loud cheering.) The 
friends of emancipation in America cried, come 
over and help us, — Therefore, said Mr. T., I went ; 
therefore, you sent me — (cheers.) He would be 
pardoned for jnaking these preliminary remarks ; 
in his next lecture he would enter into details. 
He would now, liowever, state what principles he 
sought to establish. He maintained that the hold- 
ing of a human being as property — the bringing 
down the image of God to be bought and sold — 
was sin. That slaveholding was a sin in all sup- 
posable cases, and being sin, ought to be aban- 
doned immediately, entirely, and forever. The 
prejudice of color was also a sin. This prejudice 
was manifested in a thousand ways. Such was 
the misery to which it gave rise that he had often 
heard respectable colored men say of a colored 
mother, she rejoiced to witness the death of her 
child as a relief from that misery to which it 
would otherwise be su^ected. Mr. Thompson 
here adverted to the difficulty which some pro- 
fessed to feel in deciding as to when the brute 
creation ended and humanity began. This Mr. 
T. said, had never been a' difficulty with him. 



GLASGOW. 129 

He asked not where the individual was born, 
what was his complexion, what his form or fea- 
ture, what the texture of his hair ; he asked but 
one question ; he applied but one test — can he 
love his God? If this can be answered in the 
affirmative, he did homage to him as man, and 
would tremble lest by coldness or indifterence 
towards him, his spirit should be lost forever. 
A great deal was said in America about conse- 
qences — about what came of saying this or say- 
ing that ; no question was put as to the truth or 
falsehood of a statement, but the most anxiety 
was directed towards the consequences likely to 
spring from it. Now his doctrine was to speak 
the truth, and leave the consequences to God, 
who, he believed, would do much more if men 
would let him do — if they would not attempt to 
go into copartnery, with the Deity, but would con- 
fine themselves to the strict line of duty. Such, 
however, was not the opinion of the Anti-Aboli- 
tionists of America. Doctors of Divinity, Profes- 
sors of colleges, lawyers and senators, were all 
terrified for the consequences of immediate eman- 
cipation. What! said they, would you set the 
slaves loose immediately to cut our throats. Oh ! 
the consequences — the consequences. 

But he (Mr. T.) said, the emancipation ought 
to be immediate, because it was the immediate 
right of the slave, because it was the immediate 
duty of the master, because they had no right to 
compromise between right and wrong. It was 
then asked, did they expect immediate emancipa- 
tion — the answer was, that they did not, because 
many difficulties lay in the way, but still it was 
their duty to preach and to declare the path of 
duty. Mr. T. then, in a peculiarly happy man- 
ner, illustrated what was meant by immediate 



130 MEETING AT 

emancipation. Suppose, said ho, that you 
called up in the middle of the night on accuur 
the illness of a friend, and asked to run inun 
ately for the doctor. Althotigh you know 
the doctor lives two miles off, and though youlii 
tiie snow storm beating agaiust tlie window, i; 
do not say the man must surely be mad beet 
he desires you to get the doctor innnediatel; 
No — you immediately understand what he m^ 
— you immediately rub your eyes, immediu,, 
juujp out of bed — immediately liurry on ^p 
clothes — immediately run to the stable — imm 
ately saddle the horse — immediately ride off, 
though you tumble into a wreath of snow on 
road, you immediately extricate yourself, (ch 
and laughter,) and reach the Doctor's house, 
immediately comes off with you — immedia 
feels the patient's pulse — immediately prescr 
appropriate medicine, which the patient imm 
ately takes, and is almost immediately cure 
(great laughter.) This was the method adoj 
with regard to American Slavery ; the great 
ject was to rouse the doctor — that powerful (jji 
tor to whom he had already alluded — publico 
ion. In this object they had been strikingly i 
cessful. Already 300 societies, and hundred, 
ministers of the gospel, were engaged in diss 
iuating the principles of freedom. The docj) 
public opinion, travelled faster in America t 
here. There migljt be a thunderstorm occas 
ally, and perhaps some lightning, but that 
nothing — on the doctor went to effect a cer 
cure. Mr. T. then went on to speak of the m( 
ures which had been adopted in order to advajij 
the cause of emancipation — these were not \ 
like as regarded the whiles; holy ends could|i 
advanced only by holy means, but as it had b 



GLASGOW. 131 

! of Iho chief charges brought against him, by 

partizans of slavery, that he incited tlie slaves 
•ebeliion, he would now read irom an Ameri- 

newspaper, the views which he promulgated 
hat country. j\Ir. T. here read tiie following 
lact from a speech delivered by him in Boston, 
an occasion, when the right of the slaves to 
el was tlie subject of discussion : — 
He (Mr. T.) regarded the question as both ne- 
sary and opportune. The principles of aboli- 
listo were only partinlly understood. They 
re also frequently, wilfully and wickedly mis- 
resented. Doctrines the most dangerous, and 
igns the most bloody, were constantly imput- 
to them. What was more common, than to 

it published to the world, that the abolitionists 
re seeking to incite the slaves to rebellion and 
rder? It was due to themselves and to the 
rid, to speak boldly out upon the question then 
ore the meeting. Christians should be told 
at were the real sentiments of abolitionists, 
t they may decide whether, as Christians, they 
mid join them. Slaveholders should know what 
)liti.)nists thought and meant, that they might 
go of the prob.Tple tendency of their doctrines 
)n their welfare and existence. The slaves 
luld, if possible, know what their friends at a 
tance meant, and what they would have them 
to hasten the consummation of the present 
igo-le. 

If any human being in the universe of God 
uld be jiistilied in resorting to physical vio- 
ce to free himself from unjus* restraints, that 
nan being was the American Slave. If the 
lirtion of unmerited and unnumbered wrongs 
lid justify the sheddinfr of blood, the slave 
uld be jUo'tific^d in resisting to blood. If the 



132 MEETING AT 

political principles of any nation could justify a 
resort to violence in a struggle against oppres- 
sion, they were the principles of this nation, 
■which teach that resistance to oppression is obe- 
dience to the laws of nature and God. He re- 
garded tiie slavery of this land, and all Christian 
lands, as 'the execrable sum of all huinan vil- 
lanies ' — the grave of life and loveliness — the 
foe of God and man — the auxiliary of hell — the 
machinery of damnation. Such were his delib- 
erate convictions, respecting Slavery. Yet, with 
these convictions, if he could make himself heard 
from the Bay of Boston to the frontiers of Mexi- 
co, he would call upon every slave to commit his 
cause to God, and abide the issue of a peaceful 
and moral warfare in his behalf. He believed in 
the existence, omniscience, omnipotence and 
providence of God. He believed that everything 
that was good might be much better accomplish- 
ed without blood than with it. He repudiated the 
sentiment of the Scotish bard — 

' We will drain our dearest veins. 

But we will be free. 
Lay the proud oppressor low, 
Tyrants tall in every loe. 
Liberty's in every blow, 

Let us do or die.' 

He would say to the enslaved, ' Hurt not a hair 
of your master's head. It is not consistent with 
the. will of your God, that you should do evil that 
good may come. In that book in wliich your God 
and Saviour has revealed his will, it is written — 
Love your enemies, bless them that curse yon, 
do good to them that hate you, and pray for them 
which dcspitefuUy use you and persecute you ; 
that ye may be the children of your father which 
is in heaven. Avenge not yourselves, but rather 
give place unto wrath.' 



GLASGOW. 133 

* He (Mr. T.) would, however, remind the mas- 
ter of the awful import of the following words : 
' Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord.' 

'To the slave he would continue — 'Therefore, 
if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst 
give him drink. Be not overcome of evil, but 
overcome evil with good.' 

'Mr. Thompson also quoted Eph. vi. 5; Col. 
iii. 22; Titus ii. 9 ; I.Peter ii. 18—23. In pro- 
portion, however, as he enjoined upon the slave 
patience, submission and forgiveness of injuries, 
he would enjoin upon the master the abandon- 
ment of his wickedness. He would toll him 
plainly the nature of his great transgression — the 
sin of robbing God's poor — withholding the hire 
of the laborer — trafficking in the immortal crea- 
tures of God. He did not like the fashionable, 
but nevertheless despicable practice of preaching 
obedience to slaves, without preaching repent- 
ance to masters. He (Mr. Thompson) would 
preach forgiveness, and the rendering of good for 
evil to the slaves of the plantation ; but before he 
quitted the property, he would, if it were possi- 
ble, thunder forth the threatening of God's word 
into the ears of the master. This Avas the only 
consistent course of conduct. In proportion as 
we taught submission" to the slave, we should en- 
join repentance and restitution upon the master. 
Nay, more, said Mr. Thompson, if we teach sub- 
mission to the slave, we are bound to exert our 
own peaceful energies for his deliverance. 

'Shall we say to the slave, ' Avenge not your- 
self,' and be silent ourselves in respect to his 
wrongs ? 

' Shall we say, ' Honor and obey your masters,' 
and ourselves neglect to warn and reprove those 
jnasters ? 

TO » 



134 



MEETING AT 



'Shall WO dononnco 'carnal weapons,' wiiicli. 
are Iho only ones the slaves can use, and neglect 
to eui()loy our moral and spiritual weapons in 
their behalf? 

'Shall we tell them to beat their 'swords into 
ploui^lishares,' and their 'spears into pruning' 
hooks,' and nei^lect to give tluTn them the ' sword 
of the spirit, which is the word of (jod ?' 

' Let US be consistent. The principles of peace 
and the forgiviMiess of injuries, are quite compat- 
ible with a bold, heroic and uncompromising hos- 
tility to sin, and a war of extermination witli eve- 
ry princij)lo, part and practice of American sla- 
very. I hope no droj) of blood will sltiinour ban- 
ner of triumph and liberty. I hope no wail of the 
widow or the orphan will mingle with the shouts 
of our Jubilee. I true-tours will be a battle which 
the 'Prince of Peace ' and ours a victory which 
angels can applaud.' 

iMr. T. then proceeded. He had not incited 
the slaves to insurrection, neither had he inter- 
fered with the politics of the country. lie had 
iridend seen and lieard a great deal of VVhigism, 
nnd Jacksoni.sm, and Van Burenism, and other 
isms, (laughter,) but he had never- been ambitious 
to have a snat iu Congress, the more especially 
as when sitting in deliberation, the members 
might hear the slave??, passing by, clanking their 
chain;?', and singing 'Ilail Colinnbia.' I] is ambi- 
tion had been to go into the pirlors — the stage 
coaches — and tlie steamboats; into the Churchcg 
of the Methodists— the Friends— the Baptists— 
llip Congregationalists — and the Presbyterians, 
tfdlinir tiir- truth, and asking those whom he ad- 
dressed to npen {\in prison doors aiid let the op- 
pressed go free. Still, public lectnrps were flirr 
principal meatii by wh'ch he endeavored to fnlfiP 



GLASGOW. 135 

the object of his mission ; these other little things 
lie ofave iti and cliar^^ed nothinof for. He had de- 
livered 229 public addresses, and at some of tiiese 
lie had been well mobbed. After leavintjf his 
friends at Liverpool he had <rot over the Atlantic, 
and into the Atlantic, and was turned out of the 
Atlantic. So soon as he landed he got into an 
Inn named the Atlantic. (Great Laughter.) He 
kept iiimself very quiet, but the brass plates on 
his trunks divulged his name, and next day the 
landlord was beset by some southern gentlemen, 
who demanded his expulsion. He was brought 
to the ' bar,' in the literal sense of the word, and 
was there told by the landlord that ije would con- 
sult his own safety by changing his quarters. IJc 
subsequently went forth to lecture, but this was 
not efiected without danger. lie had addressed 
as large and attentive audiences as that before 
which he now stood, and had poured the princi- 
ples of abolition fifty fathoms in their souls, while 
the brickbats and other missiles were flying 
around him. Another object of his mission was 
to' arouse the country, and the country was rous- 
ed, as country never was roused before. Fifteen 
hundred newspapers were circulated in the Uni- 
ted F'tates, and of these not one which does not 
5 :p;^ak of Abolition. Every one there now spc-aks 
of the iumiblo individual wjio now stood before 
Ihem, from the President, who had honored him 
by special notice in the Message to Congress, 
down to the humblest demagogue who sought to 
ride into a despicable popularity, by ponrinjx out 
the most unmr-asured abuse on that * most horrid 
miscreant, and wor?t of all conceivable black- 
guards, George Thompson, the Abolitionist. But 
some cautious friend may exclaim, that he is not 
to be taken in by these declarations. If all tho 



136 MEETING AT 

journals are unfavorable to Abolition, what '\3 
gained by making them speak on tliO subject? 
Not so fast, good friend, he would reply. Amer- 
ican newspapers were not all against Abolition ; 
on the contrary there were now fifty in favor of 
it for one — that was when he went first to Amer- 
ica. And in order that they might see the im- 
portance of this, he might remind them that re- 
forms^or changes did not proceed so slowly in 
America as in this country. There they proceed-' 
ed in everything by a geometrical ratio, not an 
arithmetical, not by one, two, three, four, but by 
one, two, four, eight, sixteen. (Cheers.) If hf> 
were asked what his object was in all these ef- 
forts, he would answer simply, that it was to 
aw'aken public opinion. This object had been 
fully accomplished, and the conjoined influence 
made to flow into one grand channel — the Amer- 
ican Abolition Society. This mighty engine was 
fairly in operation, and its results would be incal- 
culably great. In the Northern States, and in 
New England, especially, the people were well 
educated — they could enter upon an arirmnonr, 
and conduct it pretty fairly ; all they needed was 
just that the matter should be set before them. 
He was particularly anxious that the mass should 
be moved on this subject. Were it taken up by 
the unwashed, a> the working classes were called 
by' those who, but forthat very class, would never 
have been washed perhaps, (great laughter,) ho 
%vas sure tliat it would soon be brought to an end. 
In talking of the various modes which ought to 
be adopted for advancing the cause of abolition, 
Mr. Tliompson recommended that the questim-^ 
should be made a test of church inembership j 
and that no one having property in slaves, or ad- 
vocating the right of those who have them, should 



GLASGOW. 137 

T)e allowed to enter any of their pulpits. This 
was already done by the Society of Friends, and 
also by that of the Reformed Presbyterians, these 
two were worthy exceptions to the general prac- 
tice, and had done honor to themselves by their 
active exertions in the cause. (Great applause.) 
The slave owner might ask what he could do in 
the cause? Let him emancipate his slaves, 
^ould be his answer. But the slave owner would 
reply that he could not — the laws would not per- 
mit him. But who made the laws ? it might be 
asked. Why, this very slave owner himself had 
possibly a hand in making the very law he com- 
plained of. Such a petty mode of excuse was 
very much like that of a child of whom he once 
heard. A little girl was left at home one day by 
her mother, who, on going out. gave her daugh- 
ter some particular work to have finished by the 
time she returned. On entering the house she 
found that the girl had not obeyed her orders. 
Why did you not do what I bade you^ said the 
mother? Oh! because I was tied to the mahog- 
any table, said the child. But who tied you to 
the mahogany table, asked the mother ? Oh, it 
was just myself. This was the way with the 
slave owner. He had tied himself to the mahog- 
any table and then pretended to be helpless. 
(Loud laughter and cheers.) But the best Avay 
with a bad law was to resist it. Obedience to 
bad laws had been a curse to the Avorld from the 
beginning of time. It was only by passively re- 
sisting a bad law that its gross injustice could be 
made fully manifest. In illustration of the mode 
in which passive resistance to bad laws might be 
carried on, he referred to the Friends, who, rath- 
er than serve in the militia, pay the fine, (or pre- 
fer sufferinf^ the penalty,) imposed on them by 
12* 



138 MEETING AT 

Government. Women might ask what they could 
do in the cause? He (the eloquent Lecturer) 
would answer, they could do everything to mould 
the spirit of the age. It was women alone that 
could play on that mysterious instrument — the 
infant mind, she only could touch aright its stops 
and keys, and teach it to discourse most skilfully. 
He then referred to the noble exertions of the 
Glasgow ladies in the cause of abolition, and 
gave a glowing account of the Christian heroism 
displayed by the ladies of Boston, when threaten- 
ed by the mob of gentlemen in that city. It had 
been often asked what good you could effect 
though you were able to convert the whole of the 
Northern States. To this he had answered — 
— Why so many speeches about Poland ? about 
the suffering Greeks ? about the glorious three 
days of Paris ? about the freedom earned by the 
Belgians? Mr. Thompson then related an anec- 
dote exposing in a most happy manner the false 
philanthropy often manifested in professing great 
sympathy with distress at a distance, while dis- 
tress at home is totally overlooked. He pictured 
out the females of a Virginia family as enthusias- 
tically engaged in providing clothes for the suf- 
fering Greek, when a straight forward friend 
makes his appearance amongst them. The friend 
of course enquires what it is that takes up so 
much of their attention, and is told that they are 
anxious to ameliorate the condition of the poor 
Greeks, suffering under the tyranny of the slave 
dealing Turks. The stranger walks out, but 
speedily returns. I am happy to inform you, said 
he, that you have Greeks at your door. Greeks 
at the door, shouted the overjoyed philanthropists? 
Yes, said the friend ; and immediately pointed 
out to his astonished and abashed acquaintances, 



GLASGOW. 139 

the poor, ragged, wretched negroes, who were 
made to lead a life of misery in the land of their 
birth, but to whose sufferings, the accursed influ- 
ence of their evil habits had rendered their mis- 
tress callous. He (Mr. T.) had endeavored to 

show that we have Greeks at our own doors 

suffering fellow beings, well entitled to our sym- 
pathies, and our helping hand. Public opinion, 
that excellent doctor would lend his assistance, 
and he was a friend that no obstacle could inter- 
rupt. With his seven league boots he proceed- 
ed on his rapid march ; no river or mountain 
could stay his course, he would ascend the Ohio, 
and descend the Mississippi ; travel a lone road, 
and penetrate every jungle, with a speed which 
nothmg could equal and a form which nothino- 
could resist. Mr. T. then adverted to the annual 
emigration of the rich inhabitants of the South- 
ern States to the North, which takes place during 
the warm and unhealthy months of summer and 
autumn. Sixty, seventy, or eighty thousand 
Southerners, Ministers of the Gospel, Legisla- 
tors, Planters, and Merchants, with their families 
emigrate in this journey in quest of health. 
hvery boarding house is filled with the strangers 
during those months, and scarcely a family^but 
has some friend come to lodge with them during 
the season from the South. Scarce a church but 
has several pews filled with these interesting 
strangers; and very beautiful most of the ladies 
and children are. It was impossible, he said, if 
the doctrines of abolition were widely diffused 
over the non-slaveholding states that this inter- 
course could take place without the slaveholders 
acquiring juster notions on this all-important sub- 
ject. They would hear its truths from the pulpit, 
and in the lecture room. This would impart the 



140 MEETING AT GLASGOW. 

influence as of a moral infirmary, and they ■would' 
return, not only with their bodies in health, but 
with their minds imbued with a renovated moral 
sentiment. Mr. T. concluded his address with: 
an eloquent peroration. 

The Chairman, in closing the meeting, said he 
was sure all present would respond to what had 
been said by those around him, that they approv- 
ed of all they had heard from their excellent 
Missionary. (Great cheering.) The Rev. Dr. 
observed that it was impossible to foresee what 
even one man could do by undaunted persever- 
ance in a good cause. (Renewed cheering.) He 
concluded by urging the meeting to furnish them- 
selves with tickets of admission for the next lec- 
ture, as no tickets would be sold, nor money 
taken, at the doors. 



ABDRESS5, 

BV THE COMMITTEE OF THE 

GLASGOW EMANCIPATION SOCIETY, 

To the. Ministers of Reliscion in particular, and 
the Friends of JVegro Emancipation, in gener- 
al, on Araerican Slavery. 

Esteemed Christian Friends, 

It is in no spirit of hostility to America, that we 
now solicit your co-operation in striving to expe- 
dite the extinction of its Slavery. There may be 
those who denounce the guilt of its oppressions, 
in hatred and terror of its liberal institutions. 
But with these we have no sympathy. Nor is 
it to these we now principally address ourselves ; 
for it will be found, if we mistake not, that they 
took little part in attaining emancipation for the 
Slaves of our own Colonies, and are no way dis- 
posed to exert themselves for the suppression of 
those evils in America, through which alone they 
can, with any hope of success, assail its disrelished 
virtues. 

Perhaps it may be thought by some, that we 
should rather veil than expose the errors of our 
Irans-Atlantic brethren, with which their exalt- 
ed principles arc practically associated, lest we 



142 ADDRESS. 

involve good and bad in the same common oblo- 
quy. But such temporising expediency, such de- 
reliclion of duty in apprehension of consequences 
is the very prop and stay of that hateful and Jiat- 
ed system wfiich we desire to overthrow ; and iur 
ourselves, we fear nothing in vindicating the 
cause of him who was annointed to proclaim liber- 
ty to the captives. 

But why, it may be asked, were not such rep- 
resentations and remonstrances employed sooner ? 
American Slavery is of long standing ; why then 
are wc only now bestirring ourselves for its abo- 
lition ? This sort of objection might be reasona- 
bly urged were we defending the immaculacy of 
our past conduct ; but if we have been reprehen- 
sibly negligent hitherto, that is no reason for ne- 
glecting duly still : on the contrary, we are the 
more bound to improve, promptly and indefatiga- 
bly, what opportunities remain for its vigorous 
performance. If additional obligations, however, 
were necessary, they are not wanting. The 
emancipation of all Slaves in the British Empire, 
precludes other nations from now meeting us with 
the reproach. Physician heal thyself; and arms 
us with a moral influence, foi the use of which 
we are solemnly responsible. It is true our Col- 
onial negroes are not wholly free, but wherein 
our example is here deficient, our experience is 
the more admonitory, and we can assure all whom 
the assurance may reach, tiiat our Emancipation 
Act has wrought well in all but its qualifications 
— that in Antigua and the Bermudas, where the 
boon of freedwn was bestowed, unmodified, all 
is contentment and comparative prosperity ; and 
that as the result of the whole, we desire all ex- 
patriated Africans to be as our'snoware, except- 
ing their Apprenticeship. 



ADDRESS. 143 

The ample and accurate inlellig-cnce now pos- 
sessed, as to the state of American Society, like- 
%vise augments the obligation to exert ourselves 
for its amendm'^nt. We knew there were Slaves 
in the United States, but we did not know till hiLo- 
ly that nearly two millions and a half of the in- 
habitants are in a State of Slavery. We knew 
that people of color, even though free, were re- 
garded vvith prejudice, but we did not know tliat 
they are subjected to a ceaseless and systema- 
tized ignominy from which the sanctuary itself, 
and even the table of the Lord, afford them no 
retreat or protection. It was matter of notoriety 
that Abolitionists in America shared the jealousy 
of all magnanimous pliilanthropists; butlhe threat- 
enings and slaughters breathed out against them 
by the periodica] press, by ministers and magis- 
trates, Presbyteries and States, have incalcula- 
bly exceeded our darkest suspicions, and filled 
us not less with astonishment than abhorrence. 

But what have you to do with us, our Ameri- 
can brethren may ask ? Why, being foreigners, 
intermeddle with our domestic institutions ? And 
what have you to do, we reply, with the heathen 
nations, to v/hom, on a scale so magnificent, you 
are sending devoted, undaunted, Missionaries? 
Why molest their household economy by aspers- 
ing their household gods ? Is it alleged that 
the cases are different? Our reply is — the same 
word which condemns idols condemns instru- 
ments of cruelty, and furnishes the maxim alike 
applicable to both : — Thou shalt in any wise 
rebuke thy neighl)our, and not suffer sin upon 
him. The cavil, however is so weak, as to be 
unworthy of refutation. Were we reasoning 
with idolaters who say, keep your gods and we 
shall keep ours, we might patiently expound our 



144 ADDRESS. 

conviction that there is but one true God, and 
one true religion, and plead the consequent ne-^ 
cessity laid upon us,to press the universal adoption 
of that faith and fulfilment of that law, which alon&' 
we account divine, and acceptable, and saving. 
But how can we composedly dilate on these first- 
principles of the oracles of God to American 
Christians, who are at the very moment prosecut- 
ing efforts of gloriously aggressive benevolence ? 
Such works are to us more expressive than words, 
and adopting the former as our model, in prefer- 
ence to the latter, we shall extend the same fidel- 
ity to America as America to other nations.- 

VVill you not, esteemed Christian friends, aid 
us in this work and labor of love ? Think what 
is due to the gospel of Jesus, which slavery in all 
its forms obstructs, outrages and defies. Con- 
sider what we owe to the subjugated, and, even 
when liberated, still abused negro. Suppose hira' 
all that malevolence would pronounce him, are 
we not equally with an apostle, made debtors to 
the barbarians as well as to the Greeks, by that 
holy religion, which proclaims God to have made 
of one blood all nations that dwell on the face ot 
the earth, which enjoins to loose the bands ot 
wickedness — to undo the heavy burdens — to let 
the oppressed go free — to break every yoke ; and 
whose comprehensive commission, as delivered 
by a once crucified, but then risen Redeemer, is 
— Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
every creature ? But many of these stolen, en- 
slaved, insulted strangers, are accredited follow- 
ers of the Lamb of God. They are not merely 
bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, but mem- 
bers of that one whole family, that is named in 
Christ, bougl'.t with the same blood as ourselves, 
sanctified by the same spirit, crying on the same 



ADDRESS. 145 

footing of adoption, Abbq Father. How then 
shall we behold unmoved, the anguish of their 
souls, and not be verily guilty concerning our 
brethren ? How shall we hear of their cruel 
bondage, and imagine while acting, as if we knew 
it not, that we are remembering those that are in 
bonds as bound with them, and them that suffer 
adversity as being ourselves also in the body ? 

Think what claims the Emancipationists of 
America have on our resolute co-agency. Among 
tliese are to be found some of the noblest spirits 
of the age — the brightest examples of humanity 
and religion. In naming some, we may be wrong- 
ing others, but these will the most readily excuse 
us, for instancing Lundy, Garrison, Tappan, Bir- 
ney, Cox and Jay — men who have not only en- 
gaged their superior powers, and not only sacri- 
ficed their time and their property, but braved a 
hurricane of obloquy and danger, placing life it- 
self in jeopardy to etfect the liberation of the op- 
pressed African. Onr efficient interposition v/ould 
strengthen the hands and gladden the heart of 
such men — would enhance the credit of the un- 
dertaking with their countrymen — increase the 
number of its supporters, enfeeble the hostility of 
its opponents, and every way hasten their ulti- 
mate victory. What, then, are all our lauded 
principles — what our high-sounding professions, 
if we deny to such benefactors a fraternal alli- 
ance at once so easy to us and pernicious to them ? 
At the same time to be precious it must be im- 
mediate. One year hence, these regenerators of 
their country may less need our assistance. In 
a few years hence their names will certainly be 
honored by the very classes who now execrate 
them. But if they live to see the effect of their 
exertions in this transformation of public opinion, 
13 



146 ADDRESS. 

they will look back from amid the admiring- mid- 
day throng to remember and acknowledge tlioso 
earliest allies who first joined their imperiled 
standard, helping them when they needed help, 
approving and supporting them while yet vilified 
and assailed. 

In a word, reflect what is duty to the slave- 
holders themselves. Are they not objects of 
Christian philanthropy, the victims of a bondage 
so much worse than that which they inflict, as 
voluntary sin is more dreadful than is voluntary 
suffering. It is true they may disrelish our ex- 
postulation, but the more it is disliked the more 
it is needed, and to wink at the oflTence is to con- 
tract its guilt. 

In whatever light, then, we contemplate the 
subject it imperatively requires us to be up and 
doing. There is no escape from the responsibil- 
ity. The opinion of this country will be estima- 
ted by its expression, and wherever it is not ex- 
pressed, silence will be construed into consent. 
Such a construction would be, indeed, utterly 
groundless. There are some, who deplore, and 
others who deride, and a few, it may be, who pal- 
liate, but who are they of our population that de- 
fend the Slavery of America ? If any speak of 
gradual cure, it is not so much as being necessary 
to the negro, a dogma wjiich the recent history 
of our colonies has signally exploded, but to the 
masters, who cannot be expected, it seems, to act 
righteously all on a sudden, after being so long 
habituated to extreme unrighteousness, and ntust 
needs themselves go through an apjirenticeship 
to prepare them for dealingjustly and loving mer- 
cy ! This is the highest pleading proffered in our 
Qountry to trans-Atlantic Slavery. And will high- 
minded America accept of this vindication ? It 



ADDRESS. 147 

cannot be, and next, therefore, to earnest remon- 
strance, we desire nothing more earnestly than a 
publication of this defence from our neutrals of 
non-interference; for, if such bo the vindication of 
America, what is its condemnation ? It any, how- 
ever be speechless, their taciturnity will be mis- 
construed, and all, therefore, who do not inter- 
pose to dissever, are powerfully, though indirectly 
confirming the delusions of the oppressor and the 
calamities of the oppressed. The question then, 
is not whether we shall be actionless, but 
whether we shall do good or evil ; not whether 
we shall take a side, but which side we shall take ; 
for, whosoever in this cause is not with Christ, is 
against him, and he who gathereth not with him, 
scattereth. Surely Christians cannot waver be- 
tween these alternatives. They came to a de- 
cision in relation to our own colonies, and how 
glorious is the result ! As a political question, 
the abolishing of slavery has been agitated for 
half a century in vain, the strongest arguments 
from expediency achieving no perceptible ad- 
vancement; but no sooner was it discussed as a 
religious quesiion, than the mountains were lev- 
elled and the valleys filled before the resistless 
march of christian principle. How animating is 
the encouragement afferded by this success. 
And let it not be said that the influence so avail- 
ing here is insusceptible of extention to foreign 
shores. Were we reasoning on merely civil 
grounds, we might be told of the difference of 
civil condition : but we argue on spiritual grounds, 
and derive our arguments from the World which 
owns no distinction of kindred or of clime. 

Already our Christian influence with America 
has been tested and established. What good has 
been already effected by Mr. G. Thompson, our 



148 ADDRESS. 

eloquent and devoted deputy.* ! Once we sent 
thousands to subjugate America, and with all the 
prowess of British arms and courage, and tactics, 
they failed in the enterprise. More recently we 
sent our combatant, and him unarmed, to liberate 
America's oppressed millions by speaking the 
truth. And what has been the result? He has 
fled. Yes, as Paul fled from Iconium and Lystra, 
to escape the jealousy and hatred consequent up- 
on conquest. He has retreated, leaving behind 
him nearly f300 immediate abolition societies, in 
great part the fruit of his benevolent mission. 
Were Britain then to exert fully its moral power, 
or rather by individual fidelity to call down the 
full blessing from on High, American Slavery, we 
are free to anticipate, could not withstand the on- 
set. Let ministers, and Elders, and Deacons, 
exert their appropriate influence with the flocks 
of which they are the responsible overseers. Let 
the several churches and ecclesiastical courts and 
congregational unions proclaim, in affectionate 
but faithful accents, their deep and painful and 
universal impression of America's blame-worthi- 
ness. These means, though simple, are invinci- 
ble — they must prevail. 

Before the first shock of weapons, not carnal, 
wielded by a mighty and united people, the surest 
strong hold of oppression, will rend, and shake, 
and fall. And when Slavery expires in America, 
where shall it survive ? With such desertion 
from its ranks and accession to its assailants, 
where and with what resources shall it mantain its 
ground ? We are bold to reply nowhere and 

* The services of Captain Stuart deserves also to be 
■acknowledged as most arduous and valuable, 
t There are now above 500. 



ADDRESS. 14& 

nohow. The battle now fought in Columbia de- 
cides for the world. All nations, accounting it 
final, look on with generous hope or interested 
fear ; and when victory declares, as it shall de- 
clare, so surely as God is true, for the friends of 
injured humanity, all the ends of the earth must 
speedily participate in the joyful consummation 
— transcendent Jubilee, inferior only to that which 
it shall accompany and promote, the admission ot 
all the families of the earth into the glorious lib- 
erty of the children of God. 

Glasgow, April lOlh, 1836. 

13* 



SECOND ANNUAL MEETING 

OF THE GLASGOW EMANCIPATION SOCIETY. 

On Tuesday evening, March 1st, 1836, the 
Second Annual Meeting of the above Society 
was held in the Reverend Dr. Heugh's Chapel. 
At seven o'clock, the hour of meeting, the church 
was filled to excess, with a highly respectable 
audience. In the absence of Robert Grahame, 
Esq., President of the Society, Mr. Beith propos- 
ed that Dr. Wardlaw should take the chair, which 
was agreed to by acclamation. 

The CHAiRMAiy expressed his regret at the ab- 
sence of their respected President. He loved to 
see that worthy individual among them, embued 
as he was with a fervent hatred of oppression un- 
der every form. — (Cheers.) If wrath ever anima- 
ted his bosom, it was only when he looked at the 
conduct of those who would prevent mankind 
from enjoying that freedom which is their natural 
birthright. They saw in him the ruling passion 
strong as ever — long might it be before they saw 
it, as the poet said, strong in death, but long 
might they witness its strength and vigor in a 
good old age. (Loud cheering.) With these re- 



MEETING AT (SLASGOVr. 151 

ro'^^^rlnr^roTtt^^' '"^"•, ^' ^- -- f-m the 
he hetd .n his f,^/;^";"f Proceeding., .-hich 
Jeiit SDeakpr' f ' ^ ^^^''^ '^^'"^ many excel- 

occupy that t^'^^^!^'°^^^/^ ^" J""^ to 

would follol "'^ belonged to those >vho 

tarfs; 7jn\'eZ !T^' ^^"V °"^ ^^ '^^' ^ecre- 
the Society The r.n'^f "^ r '^^' ,""""^1 ^^P"^t of 
labors of Mr Thar^2'''^'^^l''^'^ ^^ ^^"^th to the 
in the UnUed Stat^T !" '^l'^""'^ of abolition 
been already bpfoeVh^'^ tl ^^^ P^'-ticulars have 
to go over th^em in ,.^/"^''^' ^^ ^^ "ot necessary 

with which p/oWdencetT'"/? '5" ^''^"^^ ^^^« 
of Mr. ThomDson Sn!- ."^^^^^^^ «^^r the life 

tbe con^miuT expre "fh •" \'^'" ^" ^"^^"^^' 
ness. Mr. Thorn n/r.n. '' ^^^P^'^ thankful- 
country to the Unk J ^."f ^'"' ^"^ f''^"^ this 
important missions frnf'^'f ^."u°"^ ^^ ^he most 
by man. He had ifhn.fr' ^"^ ^^^" "ndertaken 
nor d,d he think of ^^^ zealously in the cause ; 

VVhileencrao-ed inhi.L Z'^^"^' "^ abolition, 
exposed to all th " oil ^^^^'^^^f enterprise he was 

could be h^ate ^VhisTe^d bv'th"'''^,^'^" "^'^^ 
est or prejudices madp h„ ^ ^^°'^ '''^'°«^ inter- 
Tiiis was to bp p^nl . ^^^"?^"PPO'-ters of slavery. 

fer from the desertion of th"' ^^1 ^^^'^^ ^'^^ ^^ «"^- 
tbe friends of St 7 ^^tI'']-/'''",^"^'" ^^'^"^^^ 
country had but f^Phlv c ^'^%^'^f ^1 P''ess of this 
few excepLns tt^.T''"^"^'^^^"^^^^^^ With 



152 MEETING AT 

otherg, the London Patriot, and, in our own city 
the Glasgow Chronicle. A long panegyric was 
here passed on the exertions of the latter journal, 
for its long advocacy of the claims of the Negro, 
and in particular for its bold defence of Mr. 
Thompson, when exposed to the calumnies of his 
opponents. In conclusion, the committee refer- 
red with pain to the conduct of certain members 
of the deputations from the Baptist and other So- 
cieties of this country to the United States, in re- 
gard to their treatment of Mr. Thompson. Dr. 
Cox of Hackney, was a member of the first named 
deputation. He was a member of that society 
which had sent Mr. Thompson to America ; and 
it might have been expected that he would glad- 
ly have assisted him in his arduous labors. In- 
stead of that, however, he had flatly refused to 
attend the annual meeting of the American Anti- 
Slavery Society, in New- York, where he was ex- 
pected to move one of the resolutions, on the 
ground that his coming forward in that manner 
would interfere Avith the political bearings of the 
questions of Slavery. Reference was made 
also to the travels of Reed and Matheson, a work 
which, although written by two Independent 
Ministers, friends of abolition, from this country, 
had furnished arguments against the cause which 
were triumphantly quoted by the enemies of im- 
mediate emancipation. In reference to the fu- 
ture proceedings of the society, the committee 
recommended that Mr. Thompson should be em- 
ployed to lecture on the cause in the various 
towns throughout Great Britain and Ireland, in 
order to rouse public feelings in favor of the im- 
mediate Abolition of Slavery in America. An 
abstract of the receipts and expenditure for the 
last year was then read, from which it appeared 



GLASGOW. 153 

the amount of receipts was £247 153. 5 l-2d ; of 
expenditure, £249 14s. 2d ; leaving a ballance 
due the Treasurer, £1 18s. 8 l-2d. 

The Rev. T. Pullar moved the first resolu- 
tion, but in doing so, he begged to be understood 
as entering his decided protest against that part 
of it which expressed disapprobation of the con- 
duct of the English Clergymen in America. 
The resolutions which he held in his hands, re- 
commended that the report now read be printed 
and circulated, and with the exception ho had 
just mentioned, he would give the motion his 
most cordial support. The Rev. Gentleman, in a 
very excellent speech, expressed his deep abhor- 
rence of the inhuman conduct of the Americans, 
and his sorrow that a land, so full of gospel light, 
and abounding so much in the missionary spirit, 
should suffer Slavery, in such a horid form, to 
exist among them. It was almost enough to 
make any one doubt whether those wonderful ac- 
counts of religious revivals which they had heard 
of as taking place in America, were actual ev- 
idences of true religion. 

The Rev James PATTERSON,while he seconded 
the resolution, also entered his protest against 
that part of it relating to the Baptist Deputation. 
He expressed his strong disapprobation of the 
conduct of the Baptists in America, for their op- 
position, covert or open, to the cause of Aboli- 
tion. 

Mr. George Thompson, on rising, was receiv- 
ed with long, continued, and enthusiastic cheer- 
ing. He rose, he said, to take a very independ- 
ent course with regard to the protest which had 
been entered by the two speakers who had itn- 



154 MEETING AT 

mediately preceded him. He knew no man 
after the flesh, except he were of the same mind 
as regarded the great question of Emancipation. 
(Cheers.) His object in rising at present, was to 
say that he thought his friends had failed in their 
duty to the Slave, in entering their protest against 
a part of the report which he reckoned most im- 
portant of all. (Enthusiastic Cheering.) It was 
well known to all, that from Reed's book, passa- 
ges had been quoted with approbation, in support 
of their doctrine, by the vilest Slavery Journals 
of New York. The Abolitionists were in that 
book blamed for having taken two steps, when 
they ought to have taken but one ; they were 
charged with demanding Amalgamation as well 
as Emancipation. Was it right, to remain silent, 
when such calumnies were circulated by one who 
ought to have been a friend ? He could assure 
them that all the sufferings and dangers and pri- 
vations he had endured in their service, were as 
nothing; he felt them not, they troubled not his 
rest by night, nor his mind by day, they were 
light as a feather compared with what he had 
Buffered from the publication of Dr. Cox's letter. 
And why should they be ashamed or afraid of 
expressing their disaprobation of what was done 
amiss by their brethren on the other side of the 
water. He would rather reprove those on this 
side the Atlantic, than those on the other side, if 
both were equally wrong. (Cheers.) With re- 
ference to Dr. Cox, he would have them to remem- 
ber that that clergyman had been sent out by the 
Emancipation Society, and that, when that body 
spoke of who should go it was agreed that who- 
ever was sent should be one who would express 
himself freely on the abolition question. Know- 
ing all this, and knowing also, that Dr. Cox had 



GLASGOW. J55 

often and publicly expressed himself warmly in 
tavor of immediate abolition, he (Mr. T.) had ex- 
pressed his confident expectation, that when Dr. 
box should arrive, he would give all that aid to 
the cause which his fame and talents could afford. 
He needed not to tell them how much he had 
been disappointed, but he might mention that the 
slavery papers of New York, which had one day 
been heaping upon Dr. Cox the vilest terms 
which language could furnish, were, the very 
next day— the day after his declining to (appear 
at the abolition meeting, filled with the encomi- 
nms of Dr. Cox, and calling on him (Mr. T.) to quit 
the country, founding their arguments for it on 
the very letter which Dr. Cox had written. Ha 
would ask then if this should not have been men- 
tioned in the report? (Cries of yes, and cheers.) 
He had no wish to occupy the time of the meet- 
ing in details which merely regarded his own 
personal feelings, were it not that his character, 
and that of their society, were equally involved 
in them ; and he could not but say, that all the 
calumnies, all the virulence with which he had 
been assailed by the slavery press, was nothing, 
compared to the withering scorn which had fol- 
lowed the publication of that letter. (Cheers.) 
When he thought of this, and when he remem- 
bered that Read and Matheson's book was in the 
hands of almost the Avhole of the religious public, 
when he saw the passages in it in which they 
sppak of the cause of emancipation having been 
thrown back by the abolitionists, when he read in 
the New York Herald an extract from that book, 
in which the abolitionists were spoken of as too far 
advanced tor the aire in which tiiey lived, where 
they are said to have injured the cause through 
their inattention to expediency, having left in 



X56 MEETING AT 

their plans nothing to prejudice, nothing to inter- 
est, nothing to time. When such things as these 
were said, was it right they should remain silent 
concerning them ? (Cheers.) He would call on 
Mr. Reed, if he was there present, though he had 
meant to call on him first in the presence of as- 
sembled thousands in London, he would call on 
him to show if ever there had been any thing un- 
holy, or even inexpedient in the right sense of 
the word or the term, in the conduct of the con- 
stitution of a single one of the three hundred 
and fifty Anti-Slavery Societies which had been 
formed in the United States. As to the charge 
brought against them that they demanded amal- 
gamation after emancipation, he repudated it as 
false and unfounded. They never spoke of amal- 
gamation, or if they did it was only of putting an 
end to that wicked and awfully debasing amal- 
gamation which existed among the planters of tlie 
south, and their slaves. Mr. Reed had, without a 
shadow of proof, brought a charge against the so- 
ciety which was sufficient of itself to ruin the cause 
in the minds of all who read without enquiry, far- 
ther. He had spoken of the agents of abolition 
in the most disparaging terms, comparing the so- 
ciety to a wedge. Mr, Reed said, they had at- 
tempted to force the broad end first, and thus their 
efforts had been worse than useless, and set 
against them the very best friends of the cause. 
Now, who were these best friends of the cause? 
Were they the men who v/ould first set about 
satisfy ing the grasping cupidity of the plantorwhiJe 
they lent a deaf ear to the complaints of the suf- 
fering negro, men Avho would attend to the claims 
of interest before those of humanity, men who 
would not stir a single step in the work till they 
had satisfied the claims of these dealers in hu- 



GLASGOW. I5t 

man cattle ? (Cheers.) And these were to be 
called the best friends of the negro. (Laughter 
and cheers.) He would again ask, before sitting 
down, if these things were to be passed over un- 
noticed in the report of their societ}^ ? He would 
enter h:s protest against any such shameful 
silence. They might talk as they pleased of Dr. 
Cox having occupied the digniiied position of 
neutrality; he envied no such dignity; he detest- 
ed neutrality ; he had almost said that God de- 
tested neutrality. It was this false virtue which 
stood in the way of every great improvement, it 
was the barrier against the most needed reforms, 
a shield which stood betwixt the conscience of 
the slavery advocates and the pointed rebuke 
which the abolitionists aimed at it. He trusted 
that the report would be allowed to stand in its 
original state. He would not alter a word, he 
would not misplace a single comma of what had 
been said with regard to the members of the Bap- 
tist deputation, he would rather that all the rest 
of the report were struck out, all that had been 
said laudatory to himself, than that any change 
should be made on this. Mr. Thompson sat 
down amid lung continued and renewed cheers. 

The resolution to adopt the whole report, was 
carried nearly unanimously, amid tremendous 
cheers. 

The Rev. Dr. Ritchie of Edinburgh rose to 
propose the next resolution. It relieved him to 
lind, he had said, that on this occasion he was not 
called on to speak a speech, nor yet to read one 
prepared by himself. What he had to read to 
them was a petition proposed to be sent to Parli- 
ament, and the Memorial addressed to Lord Mel- 
bourne. Ilavino^ read these documents, Dr. 
M 



158 Meeting at 

Ritchie said he believed he might safely lea-ve 
them to speak for themselves. They contained 
the sum, and even the detail?, of all he had ta 
say. Nevertheless, he would address a few 
words to them, in tlie hope that, by so doing, he 
might forward the grand movement, for he could 
not help thinking, that even he, in his own place, 
might be useful in that cause which he had so 
deeply at heart — the cause of immediate and to- 
tal abolition. (Cheers.) The contest was one, no 
doubt, of a formidable nature ; but when he con- 
sidered that he spoke in Glasgow — the Geneva 
of the north, — when he saw before him their ven- 
erable Chairman whose hand was at every good 
work, an^d on his right their friend Mr. G. 
Thompson, who had not hesitated to descend 
into the lion's den. — (Cheers.) When he felt him- 
self thus placed, how could he be afraid to speak ? 
(Cheers.) What was the subject.^ He could 
not tell. It was called slavery *, but he could not 
express the misery, the degradation, the consum- 
mate wretchedness, that was comprised within the 
meaning of that word. Could he suppose the 
fiends of Pandemonium assembled in council, in 
order to find out what was most fruitful in every 
crime, he would see these fiends coining forth as 
slaveholders. (Cheers.) He (Dr. R.) had, in 
early yencrs, been convinced' of tlie evils of sla- 
very. His convictions had been deep dyed — they 
had been dyed in the wool. (Laughter.) When 
at the grammar school, his soul had been harrow- 
ed by the description given by Clarkson of that 
floating hell — a slave ship. His sleep had been, 
harassed by dreams of the misery of thn slaves^ 
pent up together, close as his finger.^, and in ap- 
partments only two feet in height. Keenly as he 
had felt, however, ho still knew that no one could 



GLASGOW. 159 

propel ly estimate the miseries of slaveiy, but he 
who liad been at one time himself a slave. It was 
a disgrace to the age, that at this time of day — in 
llie iiineleenlii century — it was necessary to vin- 
dicate the rights uf the slave. Had a seraph been 
t )ld that in our worhl we had been lectured for 
50G0 years on the immense vahie of truth and hon- 
esty, and that for nearly ^000 w-e had been taught 
to do unto others as we would thattiiey should do 
unto us — had a seraph been told of this, and then 
asked where he was likely to find an aristocracy 
of tiie skin or to hear of the right of the white 
man to hold his black brother as a chattel, he 
should ; certainly have sought any where but 
on tijis earth, for such a spectacle. Dr. R. spoke 
of tiie early advocates of negro freedom--of Gran- 
vdle Sharpe, of Clarkson, and of Wilberforce — 
but while he did this, he said he did not speak of 
these champions merely because they were old — 
he at all times liked a coin of yesterday's mint 
better than one of Julius Cassar — he spoke of 
them because their labor of love had been great 
and successful ; and they had been succeeded by 
those — by Fowell Buxton and George Thompson 
— (cheers) whose names would be familiar as 
household words, when those whose fame rested 
on the false glories of war would be totally for- 
gotten. The Slave question had now assumed a 
new aspect. Tiie friends of the negro had lately 
sent deputations to London to aid their cause. 
And why had they been so late in doing so? 
Because it had been formerly felt needless to peti- 
tion a parliament of slave owners — a parliament 
bent only on enslaving oursolvef. Scotsmen were 
not the men to go on so thriveless an errand eis to 
urge on such a parliament the rights of the negro. 
But now tim«s were changed. We had effected 



160 MEETING AT 

our own emancipation, and we were resolved also 
to effect that of the negroes. Ho felt proud 
when he reccoliected his going with a sturdy 
phalanx of 339, to wait upon Lord Althorp in 
Downing Street, to ur^^e the poUcj' of immediate 
emancipation. He told his Lordship that Scot- 
land had taken up the subject on bible grounds, 
and he was answered by a Lillipu statesman at 
his Lordship's side, that he did not doubt of the 
Apprenticeship's leading to a satisfactory settle- 
ment. Yes, said I, continued the Rev. Doctor, 
it will no doubt lead to a satisfactory settlement 
— so will the crossing of your threshold lead to 
Edinburgh; butthemischief is that it^s alang way 
till't. He (Dr. Ritchie) considered the Apprentice- 
ship as a. system to be put an end to as speedily as 
possible. Liberty might be considered Elysium, 
slavery Tophet, and the Apprenticeship Purgato- 
ry. He could not even say as the Papist said — 
when jawed by a Protestant regarding Purgatory 
— that he might gang far'er and fare waur — (a 
laugh) — he thought that even to go the length of 
positive slavery, would scarcely be found worse 
than the Purgatory of the Apprenticeship. 
(Cheers.) He had heard a great deal said of the 
support given to the slave system by Baptist and 
Presbyterian Ministers ; he would only say that 
the conduct of these men was most condemnable. 
It was worthy of remark, however, that Ministers 
of the Gospel had been called Angels, and that 
fallen Angels become Devils. Dr. R. then point- 
ed out the situation in which the stipendiary ma- 
gistrate was placed under the new system in the 
West Indian Colonies. On the one hand there 
came forward seekingjustice the poor and degra- 
ded negro ; on the other the wealthy planter ap- 
proached upon his nag. The magistrate was in- 



GLASGOW. 161 

vited into the house of the planter and there regal- 
ed vviiJi tJie hest that the land affords. After the 
feast he is called on to decide between the par- 
ties, and for the life of him, said Dr. R., he could 
not decide against his host. These magistrates 
had been also brought up in a bad school. They 
had served their apprenticeship in a standing ar- 
my, and had been familiar from their youth with 
the infliction of the lash. He had heard within 
these few days, of an officer in the army who was 
so extremely humane as to superintend the inflic- 
tion of the lash in person. (Cheers and laughter.) 
Nine out often of these stipendiary magistrates 
were in the interest of the planters. Ought this 
to continue? He would hand them over to the 
Scripture text for an answer — wo be unto them 
who establish iniquity by law. For his part when 
he saw that those from whom the negroes had 
justly anticipated they would find protection, 
were in league with their oppressors, ho was as- 
tonished at the patience with which they had 
borne their injuries. Some might say — some had 
said — that five years of apprenticeship was a mere 
trifle. Would any one present like to suffer for 
five years all those miseries which experience 
had already proved to be identified with negro 
apprenticeship? The Americans endeavored to 
bamboozle us by saying that they got negro 
slavery from Britain ; but he would ask them, did 
they hesitate to throw off the yoke of Britain 
when they found tljemselves likely to be subjected 
to a tax on their tea, and why not as well throw 
from them the disgrace of slavery? For his part, 
when he found a parchment law go contrary to the 
lav*- of God, he would feel it to be his duty to tear 
it In pieces. At that day when the world would 
be in flames, and -when the parchment itself 
14* 



163 



MEETING AT 



would be crackling", the soul would stand naked 
before the throne of the Judgre to answer for the 
deeds done in the body. There was a talk of 
property in the slave. He would ask to whom 
belongfed the 800,000 negroes in the West Indies? 
Did they not belong to the people of Britain, 
who had paid for them no less a sum than £20, 
000,000. (Cheers.) And was it not intolerable 
that those whose freedom had been thus bought 
should still be subjected to the ignominy of the 
lash and the cattle chain ? (Cheers.) There had 
also been a talk of being in advance of the spirit 
of the age. The people of Britain, he was 
aware, had always been in advance of the Gov- 
ernment. (Cheers.) When £500,000,000 was to 
be borrowed, in order to carry on a war crusade 
against France, the Government was sure to take 
the lead ; but in a moral crusade against iniquity 
tha people were always to be found foremost. 
The people ought, therefore, to depend upon 
themselves. They should not look even only to 
Lord Melbourne. His Lordship might do much 
better than he had done, though he admitted that 
bo had done wonderfully well. (Cheers.) There 
was another to whom they would naturally look 
as a leader — the great O — who had done more 
than any other man to advance the cause of hu- 
man freedom. He could easily picture to him- 
self that great O when a boy running about Der- 
rynane Abbey, and conversing with the dairy- 
maid while she was working at the churn. She 
would doubtless explain to him the nature of the 
operation in which she was engaged — that with- 
out agitation she could not expect to produce but- 
ter, and he would thus be instructed in the art 
which he had since turned to so excellent an ac- 
count. He (Dr. R.) would urge upon the meet- 



GLASGOW^ 163 

ing to use the same means. He would call upon 
them to agitate in their respective circles in be- 
half of the negroes. He would address himself 
particularly to students, some of whom he saw 
present, and bid them raise the muirburn of Anti- 
Slavery agitation throughout the country. 

Mr. J. M'CuNE Smith, (colored,) of New-York, 
seconded the motion. The apprenticeship, he 
said, was wrong in principle, ruinous in practice, 
and dangerous as a precedent. It had been said 
that immediate emancipation was likely to be 
productive of the most pernicious results; but in 
refutation of this it was only necessary to turn to 
St. DomingOjto Columbia, and to Antigua, to prove 
the reverse. The apprenticeship was ruinous 
in practice, in as much as from the colonial gov- 
ernment, composed as they Avere wholly of slave- 
owners, no measure could be expected or calcu- 
lated to ameliorate the condition of the negro. But 
the dangerous precedent afforded by the appren- 
ticeship was particularly to be regarded. The 
people of Britain had nobly led the way in the 
abolition of slavery, and other nations might be 
willing to follow the example ; but they might 
be tempted by our adoption of the seven years' 
apprenticeship, to fold their arms and say, we shall 
wait to see what is the result of this experiment. 
Mr. S. then inculcated the propriety of calling 
for immediate emancipation. Let not, he said, 
the British Statute Book be stained with the as- 
sumption that man in any state is not fit for free- 
dom. The horrors of the apprenticeship are 
more galling to the negro, than absolute slavery, 
as they are inflicted on them by the British peo- 
ple ; and they are still further aggravated by the 
sound of the anthems heard from the neighbour- 



164 MEETING AT 

ing shores of Antigua, where the slave has been 
completely released from his bonds. 

Mr. Geo. Thompson rose amidst universal 
cheering to move the next resolution. He said 
as there were yet several other resolutions to be 
moved, he would not take up a large portion of 
their time in reccommending one which recom- 
mended itself. A more potent instrumentality 
could not be employed in favor of the abolition 
cause in America, than the communication of a 
public declaration of the sentiments of the Chris- 
tian people of this country. They Avere tliere on 
a firm footing; they were there on solid ground. 
They might assemble and express their opinions 
of what was cruel and unjust, they might, they 
ought, as christians to interfere with the brethren 
on tiie other side of the Atlantic — to tell tliem 
what were their opinions. This was their only 
interference; this was the height of their inter- 
feren«o. They had sent their living agent, who, 
through the breadth of the land, had declared their 
sentiments, and uoav that he had returned they 
were adopting the next most powerful instrumen- 
tality to forward the cause, by sending abroad 
their written remonstrances on the result and 
demoralizing tendency of slavery. (Cheers.) 
Americans there were who might affect to sneer 
at the remonstrance of Britain ana Ireland, but 
thousands and tens of thousands would feel 
strongly on the subject, and many of them with a 
proper feeling. Were there no other means than 
by writing? The newspapers went there. The 
380 Abolition Societies M'ould find out a way to 
make them circulate. Give then, (continued Mr. 
T.) publicity to every syllable that you pen, to 
every word that you utter. Put your prayers, 



GLASGOW. 165 

your wishes, your reasonings, into print; give 
them ' line upon line, precept upon precept,' and 
Ko will you UAvaken the best portion of the 
American community, (approbation.) He had 
now to advert to the clergy in America. He was 
happy to state that there were from twelve to fif- 
teen hundred pledged to the cause, notwithstand- 
ing he had said so much on former occasions res- 
pecting the corruption of the church. It was true, 
that among the professors of religion in America, 
who were opposed to them, were the Ministers 
of religion. Among the Presbyterians in Vir- 
ginia, a great number of tlio ministers were 
not only slaveholders, but planters, and divided 
their duties between attending to the holy office 
of the ministry, and planting rice, cotton, and su- 
gar. The highest dignities of tlie Methodist 
Connection, and the chief office bearers of the 
Episcopal Church, were connected with the slave 
trade. In South Carolina, the ministers uj)held 
the determined, inveterate, unmitigated slavery 
of the South. The clergy preached what they 
called Christianity, which sanctioned slavery. 
But the church was rising, and without even the 
aid of a Stale connection, would continue to rise, 
and the church would yet be the redemption of 
America. Public feeling would keep time with 
the voice of the sanctuary, and they would ac- 
company each other in a final triumph. The 
question of slavery was to tiie present moment, 
exclusively religious, and so it would continue; 
but the politician would come in, and in his own 
place be an effective agent. In order to give a 
better idea of the progress of the cause in Amer- 
ica, as he had said enough in support of the res^ 
olution, he would direct their attention to a dis- 
play which was made in the State of New Yoi-k, 



166 MEETING AT 

nt a time wlien there was nothing but slaughter 
breathed out against the abolitionists. Tlie el- 
forts of the abolitionists were not however paral- 
ised, A convention was held and notwithstand- 
ing all the threatenings, there were now 350 socie- 
ties in the United States. The deputations to 
the Ministry and tlieir myrmidon at Downing 
Street, had been adverted to ; that circumstance 
occurred at the moment of highest excitement in 
favor of the question. Never was there such a 
parade of those gentlemen called black coats, 
seen going up Downing Street, and seldom was 
Lord Stanley in such juxta position. The excite- 
ment in New York was, however, of another kind. 
It was said if the meeting were held, it would be 
equal to a declaration of war, an attempt to bring 
about the dissolution of the Union. One thous- 
and of the cream of the Slate of New York at- 
tended, however, and among them were 100 min- 
isters of the gospel. Britain waited to second 
these efforts. Let the friends of liberty in Brit- 
ain endorse these proceedings. Let their remon- 
strances against slavery come from all quarters, 
and wind their way through the United States of 
America, which one after another would join in 
ihe cause. 

One word, continued Mr. T., with regard to 
prejudice against color. If there was one thing 
more than another lie delighted to hear, it was 
the address of a stranger wiio came among them, 
a brother who differed from them only in the col- 
or of his skin, listened to with attention and ad- 
miration by an audience like the present. Not so 
was it in America. To show the state of feeling 
on the part of the whites towards the blacks, he 
wmild narrate an anecdote which he had learned 
iifler a lecture in Edinbur«rh, regarding this pre- 



GLASGOW. 



167 



jiidice against color. A lady who had busn con- 
versing with an acquaintance ot'iier own, a Vn-' 
ginia-ised Frenchman, now in Edinburgfi, hap- 
pened to ask him if he knew Mr. TJiompson.— 
'Oh' said the Frenchman, 'that man Thompson 
— he be all humbug, iuimbug, humbug,' and in or- 
der to convince the lady he recited an anecdote 
of a Frenchman, who courted a lady the filth re- 
move by birth from a black family. The French- 
man said she was 'a beautiful, very beautiful la- 
dy,' but at a dinner party it being whispered that 
the beautiful lady was connected by birlh with a 
black family, the company left the room, all but 
the French gentleinan and the fine lady, and they 
were obliged to take dinner in a private apart- 
ment. The fine lady cried and wept, but the 
company went back to dinner again, alter &he 
had left the room. If I had not gone out too, con- 
tinued the Frenchman, I would have lost all cred- 
it and respectability in society. Mr. Thompson 
then went on to mention the circuBJstance of a 
partition having been erected in Dr. Spragiie's 
church in Albany, separatino the blacks, many of 
whom had been members of the church for a lon^- 
tnne under the ministration of Dr. Spragu«j's pre- 
decessor, from the whites of the same congrega- 
tion. He also stated that the whites were not 
satisfied till a green curtain was put up to bide 
ibe negroes' faces, but that thf^re was now not a 
colored man in the church. The learned lectur- 
er said there was reason to guard against the evil, 
which professedly good men did. Where could 
a man look for P(]uality of rifhts if it was not in 
the church? If a practice like this was not ex- 
posed, how could they justify the anathemas which 
they hurled against the system? Mr. T. next 
alluded to the anomaly of the American congtitu- 



168 MEETING AT 

tion, lioklinjT equality of rights, freedom of con- 
science, and freedom of speech, and the Govern- 
or of Alabama sending to the Governor of New 
York for the delivery of a Mr. Williams, who was 
indicted for publishing in his newspaper a sen- 
tence to the effect that 'God commands, and na- 
ture cries aloud, against the sin of man holding 
property in man.' An advertisement, continued 
Mr. Thompson, appeared in an American paper 
in Charleston, offering a reward of fifty dollars, 
to any person who would bring to ' Liberty 11 a j 
the servant of the proprietor, named Bill, who 
Avould be known by the marks of the whip on his 
back, and who having eloped without provocation, 
was said to be on the road to his wife and five ' 
children, sold to a neighboring planter, by the 
master of 'Liberty Hall.'— (T-aughter.) Another 
anecdote was told by Mr. Thompson, of a Mr. 
Wallace, who married in the South a lady who 
was governess in an institution. Sometime after 
the marriage, a person called on Mr. Wallace, 
and demanded his wife or 1,000 dollars, as she 
was his slave. The husband was indignant. He 
turned the individual out of doors, and conimum- 
cated the circumstance to his wife, who, after 
hearin<T a description of tlie visitor, told her hus- 
band, that she was not only his slave but that he 
was her father. (Shame.) As a farther proof of 
the evils of slavery, Mr. Thompson stated as a 
fact, that a father in Kentucky, where gambling 
is carried on to a great extent, had actually given, 
after he had lost all his money, his three chilc.ron 
as a stake for the last game. He lost the game ; 
the planter went to the mother demanding the 
' bet, but she, after hearing an explanation of the 
matter from her husband, went into another apart- 
ment, and :5hc and her three chiMrcn were t<-und 



©LASGOW. 169 

there Avilh their throats cut. (Oh, and shame.) — 
Mr. T. said, be had sat in stage-coaches, and lis- 
tened to the recital of atrocities committed on the 
blacks, which were made a matter of jest to the 
whites. He had heard his own name branded 
with foul-mouthed malignity, when those who 
spoke of him did not know that he was present. 
He concluded by commenting upon the appren- 
ticesliip system, and by denouncing the stipendi- 
ary magistrates as leagued with the planters in 
the oppression of the negroes. 

The Rev. Mr. Thompson, of the Methodist 
connexion, seconded the resolution. He said, 
the most humbling consideration they had had 
before them that evening was that the professors 
and the ministers of religion were the main props 
of slavery in America. The immortal Locke had 
said that wljat was morally wrong could not be 
politically right; and he would say that what was 
morally wrong could not be ecclesiastically right. 
Whether, therefore, the system was supported 
by Baptists, Presbyterians, or Methodists, it should 
ever meet with his unqualified reprobation. 

The motion was carried unanimously. 

The Rev. D. Heugh rose to propose four reso- 
lutions of which he would shortly state the sub- 
stance. The first contained a pledge tliat the 
(ilasgow Emancipation Socioty would not give 
over their humble efforts, till freedom, the birtli- 
right of the species, was universal, and shivery 
was banishe*! f^i-omthe whole earth. The 2d con- 
tained an expression of their approbation, and, not 
only of their approbation, but of their admiration, 
of their honest and talented missionary, Mr. Geo. 
Thompson. The 3d was that they would do all 
15 



170 MEETING AT 

in their power to influence public opinion in Amef* 
ica on the subject. America presented the mosl 
monstrous anomaly in jurisprudence and in mi)r- 
als to be witnessed on the earth, and they would 
be wantinor in their duty were they not to send 
remonstrance alter renionstrancc, tii! not a single 
manacled human being was to be found on tlie 
American territory. The people of Britain were 
as responsible for llio proper exercise of the in- 
fluence th»y possessed, as for the money they had 
at their command ; and they could not answer 
sati.>factorily to their consciences, to the negro, 
to their American brethren, nor to God, were 
they to refrain from putting that influence forlli 
for the abolition of slavery. The 4th resolution 
which he had to propose Avas one calling on their 
friend, Mr. Thompson, to vocilerate in tlie cars of 
British christians the duty of making a long pull, 
a strong pull, and a pull altojrether, till the ac- 
cursed system of slavery was altogether abolishedr 

Rev. D. Kirfa seconded the resolutions with- 
out remark, and they were carried unanimously* 

Mr. G. Thompson acknowledged the kind man- 
ner in which he had been alluded to in the reso- 
lutions just read. He felt himself unable, he said, 
to acknowledge their kindness as he ought. Whf^n 
contradicted he could occasionally reply, hut 
when commended he could say nothing. He then 
road a list of names, which he would pro[)ose as 
the conunittee for the next j'ear; and took occa- 
sion, on uiontionirig the Rev. Mr, Paul, of Wil- 
berforce Settlement, Upj^er Canada, as an Hon- 
orary member of the Committee, to eulogise that 
g'entleman's Christian spirit, in enthusiastic terms. 

The Committee was appoiuted amid acclama- 
tion. 



GLASGOW, 171 

The Rev. Dr. Kidst.>n ropo tn move a vote of 
thanks to the Lndies' Auxiliary Society. In eve- 
ry (rood work, the Ladies had been fcurd ready 
to take the lead, and in this case th.eir Society 
had been greatly acsi.-fed by the energetic cff(;rts 
of the Ladies' Auxiliary. 

The motion was seconded by Mr. M'Laren, and 
carried amid great applause. 

Thanks were then voted to the Rev. Dr. Ileugh 
and the tnanay^ers of the Chapel, and to tiie Rev. 
Dr. VVardlaw for his conduct in the Chair; after 
m'IhgIi the meeting; broke up, about 1-2 past 11. 



GLASGOW E3IANCIPATION SOCIETY. 

GLASGOW, 1st March, 183(3. 

This Evening", at 7 o'clock, agreeably to adver- 
ti'^enient, the Second Annual Meeting of the 
Glasgow Emancipation Society was held in Dr. 
Heugh's Chapel. 

In the absf^nce of the venerable President of 
the Society, Robert Grahame, Esq. of Whitehill, 
Dr. Wardlaw, one of the Vice Presidents, was, 
on the motion of James Beith, Esq. called to the 
Chair. The Chairman, after introducing the busi- 
ness, called upon Mr. William Smeal, Jr., one of 
the Secretaries, to read an abridgement of t!io 
Annual Report. It was then 

Moved by George Thompson, Esq. and second- 
ed by the Rev. Robert Thompson, Wesleyan 
Methodist Minister: — 

'That this meeting, in the conviction that the 
only means that can now be employed, by the 
friends of emancipation in this country, for pro- 
uioting the abolition of Slavery in tho Uniled 



172 MEETING AT 

States of America, is by the Christian public re- 
monstrating Vi'ith their Christian brethren in 
America, on their sin and guilt in the sight of God^ 
as well as scandal to their profession as Christians, 
in keeping their colored fellow men in bondage — 
therefore 

Resolved, That an address to the friends of 
slave emancipation, and to ministers of religion, 
especially, on the importance and duty of so re- 
monstrating, be drawn up by the Committee of 
this Society, and printed and circulated as speed- 
ily as possible.' 

Moved by the Rev. Dr. Heugh, and seconded 
by the Rev. David King, both of the United Se- 
cession Church: — 

' 1. That this Society, convinced of the many 
and enormous evils connected with Slavery, af- 
fecting the temporal and spiritual interests, both 
of the enslaved, and of those who hold them in 
bondage, and the essential contrariety of the sys- 
tem to the dictate's of benevolence and justice, as 
•well as to the spirit and letter of the religion of 
Jesus Christ, renew their pledge to persevere in 
their exertions, in union with kindred Societies in 
Britain and in other lands, with a view to effect 
the abolition of Slavery and the Slave Trade, 
universally and forever. 

2. That the Society, in compliance with the 
invitation of many philanthropists in America, and 
in connection with other Societies in this country, 
having deputed Mr. George Thompson as their 
Agent to the United States, to co-operate with 
the friends of the Abolition of Slavery there, in 
their efforts to awaken their countrymen to a sense 
of their duty towards more than two millions of 
their brethren held by them in cruel bondage, ex- 
press their cordial approval, and high admiration 



GLASGOW. 173 

of the power, intrepidity, and devotion, uith 
which, in the face of formidable opposition, un- 
sparinjr abuse, and great personal hazards, Mr. 
Thompson was enabled, by the grace of God to 
pursue, and in a good measure to accommplish 
the great object of his very arduous mission. 

3. That this Society express the delight with 
which they have contemplated the zeal, self-de- 
nial, energy, and liberality which so many indi- 
viduals and Societies, male and female, in Amer- 
ica, have displayed in favor of the abolition of 
Slavery — cordially congratulate these American 
brethren on the auspicious prospects of success 
which a gracious Providence is now opening, 
tending to cheer and revive their exertions — and 
pledge themselves to employ the best means in 
their power to encourage these devoted friends in 
their great and hopeful struggle in this cause of 
enlightened humanity. 

4. That, aware of the favorable effects which, 
under the blessing of God, may be produced in 
America, by the transmission, faithfully and affec- 
tionately, of the sentiments entertained by Chris- 
tians in this country, respecting the evils of Amer- 
ican Slavery, and that prejudice against color by 
which Slavery is so greatly strengthened there ; 
and knowing the eminent fitness of Mr. Thomp- 
son, from his knowledge, experience, and proved 
ability and zeal, to rouse British Christians to the 
discharge of this duty which they owe to their 
American brethren, this Society agree to request 
a continuance of Mr. Thompson's invaluable la- 
bors, by visiting the chief towns of Britain and 
Ireland, and delivering addresses on those topics, 
of such momentous interest to both countries.' 

George Thompson, Esq. having spoken in re- 
ply, proposed, and it was carried by acclamation : 
15* 



174 



MEETING AT 



That the following gentlemen be the Office 
Bearers, and Committee of Management, for next 
year: — 

PRESIDENT. 

Robert Grahame, Esq., of Whitehill. 

VICE PRESIDENTS. 

Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, 
Dr. Heugh, 
Dr. Kidston, 
Anthony Wigham, Esq., Aberdeen. 

TREASURER. 

James Beith, Esq. 

SECRETARIES. 

Messrs. John Murray, and William Smeal, Jr. 

COMMITTEE. 



Rev. Wm. Anderson, 
Wm. Auld, 
Wm. Brash, 
Patrick Brewster, 

Paisley, 
John Duncan, 
John Edwards, 
Greville Ewing, 
Alex. Harvejr, 
David King, 
William Lindsay, 
James M*Tear, 
James Patterson, 
Thomas Pullar, 
Robt. Thompson, 
Michael Willis, 

Messrs. D. Anderson, 
Hugh Brown, Jr. 



Messsrs.Thos. Grahame, 
James Johnston, 
Robert Kettle, 
Henry Langlands, 
Patrick Lethem, 
Colin Macdougall, 
Donald Macintyre, 
Jno. Maxwell, M.D. 
Ninian M'Gilp, 
Anthony M'Keand, 
David M'Laren, 
John M'Leod, 
John M'Leod, Ar- 

gyle Street, 
Wm. P. Paton, 
John Raid, 
Robt. Sanderson, 
J. M'Cune Smith, 



GLASGOW. 175 

Wm. Brown, David Smith, 

Robt. Connel, James Stewart, 

Wm. Craig-, Patrick Thompson, 

G. C. Dick, George Thorbiirn, 

Wm. Ferguson, Archd. Watson, 

•John Fleming-, George Watson, 

Archd. Fullerton, James Watson, 

George Gallie, Andrew Young. 

IIONORART AND CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. 

George Thompson, Esq. 
Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Boston, N. E. 
Arthur Tappan, Esq., New York, 
M. George VVashington Lafayette, ? p • 
]\I. Victor de Tracey, S ' 

Rev. Thomas Roberts, Bristol, 
Daniel O'Connell, Esq. M. P. 
Joseph Sturge, Esq., Birmingham, 
Rev. Nathaniel Paul, Wilberforce Settlement, 
Upper Canada. 

Moved by the Rev. Dr. Kidston, and seconded 
by David M'Laren, Esq. : — 

' That the cordial thanks of this meeting are 
due to tlie Committee of the 'Ladies Auxiliary ' 
to the Glasgow Emancipation Society, for their un- 
remitted and zealous exertions in aid of its funds.' 

Moved by Patrick Lethem, Esq., and carried 
by acclamation : 

'That the thanks of the meeting be given to 
Dr. Heugh and the Managers, for the use of their 
Chapel.' 

Moved by the Rev. James M'Tear, and carried 
also by acclamation: 

'That the thanks of this meeting be given to 
Dr. Wardlaw, for his conduct in the Chair.' 

RALPH WARDLAW, Chairman. 



MEETING AT LONDON. 

[From the London Patriot of June 1, 183G.] 

On Thursday evening last, a very numerous 
auditory assembled at the Rev. T. Price's Chapel, 
Devonshire Square, for the purpose of hearing a 
lecture, to be delivered by George Thompson, 
Esq., illustrative of the character of American 
slavery, and the principles and progress of the 
American Anti-Slavery Society. An intense de- 
gree of interest was excited; it being under- 
stood that the lecturer would justify the course 
pursued by him towards the Baptist deputation. 

On the motion of Mr. Edward Baldwin, sec- 
onded by Mr. ScoBLE, William Knight, Esq., 
was called to the chair. 

The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, 
said, that five minutes ago he had not the least 
idea of occupying the situation to which he had 
been called. He felt himself almost incapable 
of introducing the business of the meeting, but 
he would read the advertisement by which it was 
convened. The worthy Chairman then read the 
advertisement contained in the Patriot of the 
25th ult., and said, that in reference to the latter 



MEETING AT LONDON. 177 

part [an invitation to Drs. Cox and Hoby to at- 
tend the meeting-] he liad not the pleasure of 
knowing these gentlemen, but if they should pre- 
sent themselves to the moetitio-, he was sure that 
a British audience would treat them with tiie 
greatest respect. lie happened to know a little 
of the state of the slavery question in America 
himself, having been almost nursed in the anti- 
slavery cradle; for Thomas Clarkson, Esq., had 
been his intimate friend from his boyhood. A 
short time ago he received acoinmunication from 
a friend in America, giving some horrid details of 
the present state of slavery there. It was a most 
lamentable fact, that a nation, professing the 
most unbounded sentiments of liberality, should 
tolerate a system of slavery so horrid. In the 
letter to which he alluded it was stated, that un- 
der the simple apprehension of danger from the 
insurrection of the slaves, they had, without any 
trial or examination, been executed by tens, 
twenties, and even thirties. {Hear, hear.) If 
such a system as that was not a disgrrace to any 
nation professing itself civilized, and in the least 
docrree rcjiulated by the laws of justice and 
righteousness, he knew not what was. He would 
now call on Mr. Thompson to commence his lee 
ture. 

Mr. Thomspon was about to rise, — when 

Mr. Pewtress stood up, and begged to offer 
a suggestion. He had come there in conse- 
quence of the public notice, and lie would most 
respectfully suggest, whether it was necessary 
in the information to bo communicated that even- 
ing, to introduce the names of Drs. Cox or 
Hoby, or their delegation to the United States of 



178 MEETING AT 

America. Those jrentlenien did not go out from 
the Aiiti-Slavory Society, and for one, he must 
protest against any allusion being made to ihenn. 
(Applause.) 

The Chairman stated, that he saw a state- 
ment in the Patriot about a tortniglit ago, signed 
by those two gentlemen, in which the character 
of Mr. Thompson was seriously reflected upon 
— (hear, hear) ; and he tliought, that comujon 
justice at least, required that he (Mr. T.) should 
have an opportunity of remarking upon it. (Hear, 
hear, and applause.) 

Mr. Ti.OMPSON then rose, and was received 
with slight marks ot disapprobation, whicli were in- 
stantly drowned in loud bursts of applause, lie 
begged that no interruption might be afforded to 
those who wished, on the j)resent occasion, to 
give utterance to any sounds of dis.-ipprobation 
relative to himself personally, or to any remarks 
which it might be his privileire and his duty to 
address to that assembly. He should not be 
shaken from any purpose which lie had formed 
by any thing which could take place within or 
without those walls. He stood there to accom- 
plish no party purposes, to gratify no pri- 
vate feelings, to make no attack upon private 
character. He stood there as the undaunted ad- 
vocate ot suffering and euslnved liumauity all 
over the world. (Cheers.) He held a book in 
his hand [The Baptists in America,] which was 
full of insinuations in reference to his genernl 
policy, and to certain particular acts, and no gen- 
tleman had a right to find fault with him for intro- 
ducing any names he might find in that book. 
(Hear,' hear.) That book was public properly; 
he would take it litera scprita mand^ and witli it 



LONDON. ITU 

he would have to do till lie had rescued himself 
J'roin every insinuation, direct or indirect, — every 
chfir<^e, expressed or implied, contained within 
the pages of that vuhinie. (Cheers.) He had 
not come there without ifiving full and respect- 
ful notice to his respected friends — for so he 
would call thoin. If he rebuked them it was in 
friendship, and he would do it Avit h affection also. 
He would now come to the question immediately 
before them, but he desired it might be under- 
stood that he had no wish to traduce America. 
Tiiose who hated the greatness of America would 
never point out t!iat which was the mildew, the 
canker-worm, the all-absorbing, all-operating 
cause of loss of character, loss of strength, and 
loss of glory in tiie eyes of all who were ac- 
quainted with her Jiistory, and her professions. 
He was the man who loved America, who mourn- 
ed over that one giant abomination that staired 
and defiled that land, — who, going there, did not 
disguise the truth— (Cheers) — did not confine to 
private circles' those rebukes which should be 
given on the house-top. Such were the feelings 
which animat<}d him when he went to x'\merica. 
He went not there for fame or wealth. He left 
those sliores far poorer than he went, having sac- 
rificed all that he had to the great objnct of ad- 
vancing the car of freedom, then rolling with 
s)ich slow and most sorrowful paces in that land 
of liberty — that its triumphant wheel miuht grind 
to powder the tisurpinsf institutions of despotism, 
and leave that land wiiltout a tyrant, and without 
a slave. (Loud clivers.) And \^hat was his re- 
ward aft^r 14 rnnnths of toil, and peril, and per- 
secution alm<ist unparalleled ? To be branded 
as a calumniator. (Cries of ' Shame, shame.') 
He went tlicrc to rouse that couiitrv. He want- 



180 MEETING AT 

ed it to be known by every man, from the Presi- 
dent downwards, that not George Thompson^ 
but that an Enghshman representing the wishes^ 
prayers, and religious sentimentsof England, was 
there; and that he had arrived freighted with 
blessings, and not breathing out threatening and 
slaughter, — that he had come a messenger of 
peace — that he had come to grapple, in common 
with all the sincere friends of the negro there, 
with the direst monster that ever preyed upon 
the honor, the justice, or humanity of that coun- 
try. (Cheers.) What did lie find there ? Two 
million five hundred thousand slaves — slaves in 
the fullest sense of the word ! {Hear, hear.) 
He found every sixth man, woman, and child in 
America an abject slave, in a state of unmitigat- 
ed thraldom. (Hear, heor.) He would not give 
his own assertion merely, but he would give the 
words of the Hon. Wra. Jay, the son of the cele- 
brated John Jay. Mr. Thompson then read sev- 
eral extracts from 'Jay's Inquiry,' &c. The au- 
thor stated, that according to the code of Louisiana, 
the slave could not acquire any thing but what 
must bolong to his master. According to the 
laws of South Carolina, a slave was adjudged to 
be a chattel personal in the hands of his master. 
At page 130, Mr. Jay stMted, that, according to 
the above definitions of a slave, ' Tlie master has, 
in point of fact, the same power over his slave 
that he has over his horse.' The slave is at all 
times liable to be punished at the pleasure of his 
master, and, although the law does not warrant 
Iiim in murdering the slave, it expressly justifies 
him in killing him if he dare to resist. At page 
J32, Mr. Jay remarks, that * A necessary conse- 
quence of slavery is the absence of the marriage 
relation. A slave has no more legal authority 



LONDON. 181 

over hid child than a cow over her calf.' Several 
laws were passed inflictinof corporal punishment 
on slaves meeting for mental instruction, and im- 
posing fines on those who attempted to instruct 
them. He (Mr. T.) might dwell upon the condi- 
tion of the slave, as it had been brought out by 
a mass of evidence, which, with great care he 
had collected during his sojourn in the United 
States, but he would only mention one or Iwocir- 
cinnstances. The District of Columbia was ced- 
ed to the United 8*10165 for ever by the States of 
Maryland and Virginia. It consisted of a terri- 
tory 10 miles square, in which stood the city of 
Washington, in the centre of which was the cap- 
itol, on the summit of which was the flag-staflf 
surmounted by the cap of liberty, and under 
v.-hich might be seen tiie banner, with tiie all-in- 
spiring word 'Liberty' upon it. Tlio meeting 
would imagine, and justly so, that if in the Unit- 
ed States of America, slaveholding America, 
there were one spot vrhere freedom reigned — 
consecrated to the genius of Liberty, wlicre man 
might be seen delighting in the blessings Avhich 
she poured from her cornucopia, it would be the 
District of Columbia, where assembled the rep- 
resentatives of the freest people in the world, 
where declamatory harangues were everlast- 
ingly delivered in the praise of liberty, in the 
fullest and highest sense of the word. And yet 
wlint was the fact ? Let it be known , let it be 
told throughout the world, that in that ten 
miles square, over wliich Congress exercised un- 
limited contrfil, v.-as the slave market of the en- 
tire nation. (ITear, hear, and applause.) It had 
a popiilation of 7,000 slaves, and the slave-trad- 
er-^, from all the slave-rearing States, brought the 
cofiled into Washington itseif, and into Alcxan- 



182 MEETING AT 

dria, and there the very members of Congress, 
while speeches were being made within the 
walls of the capitol, were outside; tlje doors en- 
eaefint'" with the vilest race of men on tiie face of 
the earth for the sale of the bones, and the sm- 
ews, the life, and the blood, the liberty and fertil- 
ity of God's rational and immortal creatures. 
(Immense applause.) And yet he was told, that 
he was a 'caluminator,' because he said that 
America was 'a Avicked nation.' (Cries of 'Sliamo, 
shame,' and long continued cheers.) What wMjuld 
?he meeting think, when he told them tJiat Wash- 
ington city itself was infested by kidnappers, 
prowling about to arrest men of color, if they had 
not their free papers with them .'' A respectable 
colored man was thrown into the city jail of 
Washington on suspicion of being a slave. lie 
tlemonstrated his freedom — and what then .^ Was 
the man who captured him punished, and he [lim- 
self set free ? No ; He was st)ld into everlast- 
ing bondage to pay his jiiil fees ! (Cries of 
'Shame, shame.) lie (Mr. T.) stated that fact on 
Ihe authority of the Hon, Mr. Miner, and a peti- 
tion signed by 1,000 most respectable inhabitants 
of the District, and yet he was told, that lie was ' a 
caluminalor,' because he said tiiat America was 
*a wicked nation.' (Deafening applause.) The 
Corporation of Washington, by virtue of an Act 
passed by Congress, granted licenses to any one 
in the District of Columbia, who wished to trade 
in slaves:, for the sum of ,'**400 per annum. How 
Was the money appropriated ? One portion for 
the purpose of Guttino- canals for the benefit of 
white citizens, and the other for the support of 
f^chools for the cd. cation of the white youth of 
the city of Washinirton. (Loud cries of Shame, 
•hame.') And 3'ec he was told he was ' a caluni- 



LONDON. 183 

niator,* because he said that America was 'h 
wicked nation.' (Groat cheering.) He mijjht 
stand on a missionary platform and pour execra- 
tion upon Uindooism, lie mi*>ht deprecate the 
scenes upon the banks of tlie GanLi^es, lie might 
brand the acts of tlie Brahmin, the New Zeahm- 
der, and the wandering Bushman, as infamy 
itself, and yet if he spoke of slave-trading 
America — America, christianised, and republican- 
ised — and sent on the wings of the wind, that 
declaration to the first nation in the world, he 
was doing wrong, he ^vas ' a caluminator.* 
('Shame, shame,' and applause.) If lie must re- 
buke sin, he preferred rebuking it in a white man. 
(Cheers.) If he must rebuke enormity, if he re- 
buked a slave-trader, he would hunt him out in 
a Christian country, in a republican country. 
(Cheers.) He would not brand the chiefs of Af- 
rica with being bloody mouj^ters, when he could 
find well-dressed and well-educated men of a 
Cliristian country, embruing their hands in the 
blood of their brethren. (Cheers.) He knew 
the secret — the secret was out, a mans at at an- 
other's table, he put his feet under that table, 
shared its hospitalities, and came home to brand 
as ' a calumniator' the man who told that host he 
was a sinner. (Long continued cheers, witii some 
faint signs of disapprobation, which were instant- 
ly lost in renewed cheeriuL"".) He hoped that the 
friends present would find a belter way of argu- 
ing than they had done that night. (Cheers and 
laughter.) He took the guilt of this system, and 
he laid it — where.' On the church of America. 
When he said the church, he did not allude to 
any particular denomination. He spoke of Bap- 
tists, Presbyterians, and Methodists — the three 
great props, the all-sustaining pillars of that blood- 



j,g4 MEETING AT 

cemented fabric. From the Wg''^/' «=«l^«f «^'L'!f.' 
.Inivn to tlie lowest members of the congrep 
tZ: lelonging to tho.e .^ononnnatmns t,,ey 
wHi-e slave-owners. (Hear, heai, near.) i^« 
would rellte one anecdote illustrative ofthe sub- 
Tec VVlen Drs.Cox and Hoby were m Rich- 

5S^pa^r,^^.^:?^ttU'iii;"Sbfj^ 

upo'n tie system that everywhere p.-eva>ls, and 

L'e that ifght is breaking i" ",P°" ''\;™^'„tp 
tl,» slaves are von not alarmed? Uojounotap 
prehend at no^distant day a terrible .convulsion 
Kat shall overwhelm you in rum, and .ssue in the 
ext nction of the whites and the supre.nacy of 
the blacks?' 'Why,' said the gentleman, who 
was an officer in a baptist church, and had an 

;v:;:fin':!rri'rt"r:ra,ap^>^te 

;U; 0^0; wh. . coming.'^^.;^^^^^^^ 
mean,' said Ml. C.iouiesoy ^^.^ ^^^^ 

i„. a -f ;.'!;''. f,^tir;,iryo„ ; til slave-traders 
?:r fr n"e o^on llL^s of Alabama, and the 
:S:a; plantatmnsm Louisiana, an a^^^ 

;7ear^.eTr:r ^We^'n.' rUeTp ^"stocl for the 
nnrpose o? rearing slaves, but depart with the 
mT valuable, and at the same tunc, the mos 
Tngerous and the demand is vevy constant and 
likefv to be so, for when they go to these soum 
'i,„ 'states, the average existence ts only five 



I.ONDOX. 185 

years.' (Shame, shame.) Mr. Tliompson then 
adduced the testimony of the General Assembly 
of the United States, in reference to the con- 
nection of the Presbyterian church with the sin 
of slave-holding. At a General Assembly held 
at Pittsburff, in May, 1835, several speeches were 
made on the subject of slavery. Tliere were 
«)nly two immediate abolitionists in the Assem- 
bly ; yet, notwithstanding- alltliose ' efforts which, 
however well meant,' it was stated in the book 
published by the Baptist deputation, 'he (Mr. T.) 
had rolled back the cause,' at a future meeting- 
of the Assembly, instead of being two, there 
were forty-eight immediate abolitionists. (Cheers.) 
So that it was not possible, as on a former occa- 
sion, to bnrke the question ; but it was broadly 
raised and discussed by the Rev. J. H. Dickey, of 
Ohio, and Mr. Stewart, of Illinois. Mr. Thomp- 
son then quoted some of the observations made 
by the Rev. gentlemen on that occasion. Mr. 
Stewart said, 'In tliis church a man may take a 
free born child, force it away from its parents, to 
whom God gave it in charge, saying, ' Bring this 
child up for me,' — and sell it as a beast, or hold it 
in perpetual bondage, and not only escape cor- 
poral punisliment, but really be esteemed an ex- 
cellent Christian.' There was a case in point 
on that platform. A young man was present, of 
the name of Moses Roper, the son of an Ameri- 
can General, by a slave woman, once a slave him- 
self, but who had run away, and was now free, 
because he was on British, and not on American 
soil. (Loud applause.) ' I trust,' said the lectur- 
er, 'that Mr. Roper will allow me to give him 
my hand, though I have " rolled back the cause " 
of emancipation.' (Immense cheering.) 
16* 



136 MEETING AT 

Mr. Hare rose, and said, that Mr. Roper was 
a member of Dr. Cox's church, and was partly 
supported by the Doctor. 

Ma. HosKiNS said, 'He would have been a 
slave now, had it not been for Dr. Cox.' (Cries 
of ' No, no.') 

Mr. Thompson begged it then to be under- 
stood, that Moses Roper was now enabled to 
prosecute his studies, in consequence of tue lib- 
eral contributions of Dr. Cox and Dr. Monson. 
(Cheers.) Mr. Thompson then read two extracts 
from the JVew York Evangelist, of March li, 
18.36, showing that the Methodists were equally 
involved with the Presbyterians in the sin ot 
slaveholding. He also read an extract from the 
speech of J. A. Thome, Esq., of Kentucky, de- 
livered at the first annual meeting of the Amen- 
can Anti-Slaverv Society, giving a lamentable 
picture of the licentiousness prevalent among the 
slaves in Kentucky, where Mr. Thompson observ- 
ed, slavery existed in its mildest form. He held 
in his hand some excellent letters from the Rev. 
John Rankin, pastor of the Presbyterian church- 
es of Ripley and Strait-creek, Brown county, 
Ohio, in which the writer pointed out how unla- 
vorable the system of slavery was, in its conse- 
quences, as well as in its nature, to the extension 
of Gospel influence. He would merely say ot 
the Baptist denomination, that in the Southern 
States of America there were upwards ot d,UUU 
churches, containing more than 157,000 menibers, 
almost all, both ministers and members, being 
slaveholders. (Hear, hear, hear.) He would state 
one fact, on the authority of the Rev. Baron Stow. 
A Baptise minister tied up his female slave on a 
Sabbath morning with his own hands, and lloggea 



I.ONDON. 187 

her on hor naked back. He went and preached 
his seriTion — came back, and flogged her again I 
(Loud cries of ' Shame, shame,' Irom all parts of 
the building.) But he (Mr. T.) was anxious to 
pul- the meeting in possession of high authority 
with regard to the state of the public mind in the 
United States on the subject of slavery. He 
would, therefore, introduce to its attention Gen- 
eral George M'Duffie, Governor of South Caroli- 
na, one of the most eloquent and distinguished 
men in that country. In his address to the two 
Houses of Legislature, at the opening of thek 
last session, he observed, respecting the subject 
of abolition, 'It is my deliberate opinion that the 
lav/s of every community should punish this spe- 
cies of interference by death, without benefit of 
clergy, regarding the authors of it as enemies to 
the human race. Nothing could be more appro- 
priate than for South Carolina to set the example 
in the present crisis, and I trust the Legislature 
will not adjourn till it discharges this high duty 
of patriotism.' (Loud laughter.) He (Mr. T.) 
would now show what the General's theology was 
—'No human institution, in my opinion, is more 
manifestly consistent \yith the will of God, than 
domestic slavery,' ('Oh, oh.') He would look at 
his political sentiments — 'Domestic slavery, in- 
stead of being a political evil, is the cornerstone 
of our republican edifice.' (Laughter.) Such were 
the views of General George M'Dufiie, Governor 
of South Carolina ; and yet, he (Mr. T.) was call- 
ed a ' calumniator,' because he had said of Amer- 
ica, that she was ' a wicked nation.' (Immense 
applause.) Mr. Thompson having reprobated in 
strong terms the sentiments of General M'Duffie, 
then alluded to a small work published by A. D. 
Sims, A. B., in which that gentleman represent- 



188 ME^f^N'G AT 

ed the slaves in the Southern States as the hap- 
piest people on earth ; and their masters as pay- 
ing the utmost care and attention to the comfort 
tihd the morals of their slaves. ' Were it the 
habit of the author ever to use his pen, in decking 
themes of declamation, or in presenting", in pol- 
ished phrase and ornamental language, subjects 
to delight the taste, or amuse the imagination, he 
knows of none connected with human happiness 
on which he would sooner try his skill than negro 
slavery.' (Loud laughter.) Mr. Thompson then 
pointed out the absurdity of that gentleman's 
views, and proceeded to charge upon the minis- 
ters of religion in America the guilt of slavery. 
He read the followinof extract from a letter ad- 
dressed by the Rev. R. N. Anderson, to the Ses- 
sions of the Presbyterian congregations within 
the bounds of the West Hanover Presbytery. 
• If there be any stray-goat of a minister among 
us, tainted with the bloodhound principles of ab- 
olition, let him be ferreted out, silenced, excom- 
municated, and given over to the public to be 
dealt with in other respects. — Your affectionate 
brother in the Lord.' (Strong marks of indigna- 
tion.) A young man, who was prosecuting his 
studies for the ministry, but who found that his 
pecuniary means were nearly exhausted, endeav- 
ored to recruit them by going to Tennessee, sell- 
ing cottage Bibles. Suspicions were excited that 
he was connected with the Anti-Slavery Society ; 
his boxes and papers were examined, and himself 
apprehended. Some of the Bibles were found 
wrapped up in papers, containing some remarks 
favorable to Anti-Slavery principles. They also 
found a letter from a lady, who stated that she 
had * talked a stream of abolition for 200 miles.' 
(Cheers.) Besides these, they discovered a let- 



LOx\'DON. 189 

tor from the jrentletnan who had furnished him 
n-it!i the Bible.s, in v/Iiich he liad advised him 
jocularly ' not to spend more than half his time 
amon^y the NigfTt^rs.' The young- man was tried 
hefore a Lynch Committee, and upon that testi- 
mony alone was found guilty of 'an intention to 
speak on behalf of the abolitionists,' (' oh, oh,' 
and laughter,) and was sentenced to receive 20 
laslies with a raw cow-hide ; which sentence was 
immediately carried into execution. Upon rising- 
from its infliction, he praised God that he had 
been counted worthy to suffer in his cause ; but 
his voice was drowned by the cries of the infuri- 
ated mob, ' him, him,' 'Stop his pray- 
ing.' Would it be believed, that on that Lynch 
Committee, there sat seven elders and one min- 
ister, some of whom had sat with the young man 
at the table of the Lord the preceding Sunday ? 
(Cries of ' Shame ! ') And yet he (Mr. T.) was 
called 'a calumniator,' because he said America 
was 'a wicked nation.' (Immense cheering.) 
Mr. Thompson was then about to enter upon what 
he termed the 'bright side of the picture,' when 
it was suggested that he should retire, and rest a 
few minutes. In the interim., 

Mn,. M. Roper* addressed the meeting, and 
stated a number of facts which had come under 



*TI>is man escaped from Florida, came to this city 
when; he remained several months. His complexion was 
BO liglit, and his features so 'European' that he passed 
for a white man — was warned to do and actually did mili- 
tary duty. He exi)ressed a strong desire to obtain an edu- 
cation — hoping tirat it might in some way afford him the 
means of procuring the liberation of his mother and sister, 
who are still in slavery. 



190 MEETING AT 

his own knowledge, demonstrative of the horrors^ 
and cruelties of American slavery. One case 
■which he mentioned, was that of a slave who oc- 
casionally preached to Iiis fellow-bondsmen. His 
master threatened that if he ever preached on tho 
Sabbath again, he Avould give him 500 lashes on 
the Monday morning. He disobeyed the order, 
however, and preached, unknown to his master. 
He Uecarn-© alarmec^ ran away from Georgia, and 
crossed the river into South Carolina, where lie 
took refuge in a barn belonging to a Mr. Garri- 
ROB. Mrs. Garrison saw him in the barn, and in- 
formed her husband of it. Mr. Garrison got his 
rifle and shot at him. The law required that they 
should call upon a slave to stop three times be- 
fore they fired at him ; Mr. Garrison called, but 
he did not stop. The ball missed him, and Mr. 
Garrison then struck him with the gun and knock- 
ed" him down. The slave wrested it from him, 
and struck him [Mr. G.] with it. The slave was 
taken up for it ; his master went after him ; Mr. 
Garrison purchased him for 500 dollars, and burn- 
ed; mim alive^ 

Mr. Thompson then resumed, and gave an ia-- 
teresting detail, through which our limits will not 
allow U3 to follow him, of the rise ai>d progress 
of the anti-slavery cause in America. At one. 
meeting in New York, after the other religious 
and benevolent societies had held their anniver- 
sary meetings, 15,000 dollars were collected ; an 
immense number of ministers in all parts of the 
country had joined the Society, and the students 
of many colle-ges he had visited received him with 
the utmost cordiality. His accounts were iieard 
with frequent expressions of applause. He would 
now come to the ' vexed question,' the agitating, 
\he affecting question, and to the book wUicb ti'd 



LONDON. J9l 

h-eld in his liand, 'The Baptists in America.' IH 
was glad that he had talked thus iar ; for he had 
talked away every lingeiiiiir feeiiug of a person- 
al nature Aviiich lie might Jiave had when he en- 
tered that place, fie would give a plain and 
faithful statement of the steps which led to that 
conduct on his part, which had been parlicularly 
animadverted upi»n by certain individuals in this 
country. He knew the position in which the 
Baptists stood in this country before he went out, 
and what they had done in the last great struggle 
fort.'ie emancipation of the slaves in the British 
coionies. It had been his pleasure to introduce 
Mr. Knibb to more than one auditory where h-e 
iiad himseif been lecturing. He loved and hon- 
ored the Baptists, he carried with him a good re- 
port of them to America, and sincerely rejoiced 
when they had appointed two delegates to visit 
'that country. He would, in the first place, ex- 
plain the reason wjiy Dr. Hoby was not invited to 
attend the Anti-Slavery meeting in -New York, 
The meeting must understand, as a preliminary 
observation, that the Colonizationists and the 
Abolitionists of America were at antipodes. The 
former rested upon expediency, the latter upo'ft 
the uncompromising principles of justice and re- 
ligion. Any man who had the least feeling for 
the Colonizationists, would not be received with 
confidenoe by the black population, who consid- 
ered every man as practically their enemy who 
advocated ^colonization. He was «ware, from in- 
terviews v.'hich he had had with Dr. Hoby, that 
that gentleman v/as friendly to the plan of com- 
pensation and colonization. Wherever he went 
in America he was questioned respecting the 
views of t!ie delegates, and he stated what were 
Dr. Hoby's sentiments. With regard to Dr. Cox, 



192 MEETING AT 

he stated, that that gentleman was a member of 
the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and 
pledged to the question, and he believed that he 
repudiated colonization. This he stated before 
the delegates arrived in America. The Rev, 
Mr. Choules was passing through Boston, and 
said that he would, if possible, see Drs. Cox and 
Hoby at New York, before they went to Rich- 
mond ; lor if they fell into the hands of the colo- 
nizationists and slave-owners in Virginia, the ab- 
olitionists would lose them ; Mr. Choules missed 
them, they were gone in the steam-boat to Rich- 
mond. Mr. Lewis Tappan, and other members 
of the American Anti-Slavery Society, asked him 
(Mr. T-) whether ihey siiould invite both Drs. Cox 
and Hoby to their meeting, but he told them that 
they could not invite the latter for the reasons he 
had already stated, but that they might and ought 
to invite the former. Tliey sent an invitation ad- 
dressed to him at Richmond, but three weeks 
elapsed without any answer being received. He 
heard that Dr. Cox was to preach at Philadelphia 
on the Sunday, and arrive at New York on the^ 
Monday preceding the day of holding the meet- 
ing. A deputaton was appointed to see the doc- 
tor, be (Mr. T.) being one of the number. John 
Rankin, Esq., commenced the conversation by 
asking Dr. Cox whether he ijad received the let- 
ter. He stated he had ; but they did nut press 
for the reason why he had not answered it. Tiicy 
told him that it would be a full n:ioeling, and that 
they expected he would be present. Dv. Cox re- 
plied that it was a delicate question (laughter,): 
and that he had been told, wiihin lialf an hour, 
that if he went to the meeting it would bo at the 
'risk of ills life. (Laughter.) Ue (Mr. T.) re- 
marked, that he had been in America nine month?^ 



Ihat wherever he went he had been pursued by 
calumny and persecution, but he was alive, cheer- 
ful, courageous, hopeful, and that he (Dr. C.) 
might do his duty and be safe. (Hear, hear.) 
' Well,' said Dr. Cox, 'but I have been told that 
if I go to the meeting I shall get a jacket of tar 
and feathers.' (Loud laughter.) He (Mr. T.) 
told Dr. Cox that he would go too and share it 
with him (loud applause,) it would honor them 
both. (Laughter and great cheering.) Tlie con- 
versation was then carried on principally by John 
Rankin, Esq., and the Rev. Mr. Winslow, a Bap- 
tist minister, and Dr. Cox's replies were to the 
effect, ' You know there is a political bearing in 
the question.' With that they assured him they 
kad nothing to do, thoy stood upon the high 
ground of humanity and religion ; they did not 
wish him to appear as a Baptist delegate, but to 
come as a man and a Christian. (Cheers.) When 
those gentlemen had finished their conversation 
with Dr. Cox, he (Mr, T.) said to him, ' Dr. Cox, 
you know what are the expectations of our com- 
taon country (hear, hear)— you know what your 
denomination has done in England for this cause, 
and I beseech you come for the sake of humanity, 
for tlie sake of our country, for the sake of that 
religion whoso minister you are.' The doctor re- 
plied, ' I cannot give an answer now (laughter and 
hisses) ; send at half past nine in the morning and 
I will give an answer.' He again assured the 
doctor tliat they would have a splendid meeting, 
and said, 'You will have the elite of all parties ; 
pray deliver your soul, and bear a fearless testi- 
jnony for God against the iniquity of the land.' 
That was the language he had held to Dr. JRecd 
some nr.onths before, but without effect : — but of 
that more hereafter. It was with a sorrowful, and 
17 



Id4 MEETING Af 

almost broken heart, he (Mr. T.) left. He could 
truly say before bis Maker, it was the severest 
infliction, the most keen and cutting event that 
had occurred to him since his landing in the Uni- 
ted States. On quitting the house, John Rankin, 
Esq., observed, ' If these be the men you send 
from England, we shall- pray God that no more 
may ever cross the Atlantic' (Immense chees- 
ing.) The same afternoon it was proposed, in a 
hwctiiig oi delegates, that another deputatio^n 
should wait upon Dr. Cox ; but one of the gen- 
tlemen present said, 'Nol if Dr. Cox docs not 
deem it his honor to be here,.! say send n« depu- 
tation to him.* He (Mr. T.) however, urged them 
to send another deputation, for he believed the 
doctor to have beea worked upon, and that he 
was the dupe of colonizati^nisfe an4 sla's^eholders. 
Ten gentlemen were appointed to wait' upoa Dr. 
Cox, most of whom were men of high standing, 
and all of whom were men of piety and general 
influence. Dr. Cox again promised, if he did not 
attend, to send his reasons for not coming, at half 
past nine on the morrow morning. The next day 
he (Mr. T.) left the hause of Mr. Rankin to pro- 
ceed to a public meeting, ami he never went to 
a meeting with such a heavy heart. When he 
went to meet an opponent, he went strong in the 
justice of his cause, strong in thij blessings and 
prayers of the suffering and oppressed negro, 
strong in the invincibility of truth, strong in the 
omnipotence of God. But when halting between 
two opinions, doubting whether Dr. Cox would 
be there, but at the same time rather inclining to 
believe that he would not, he did blush for his 
country, and felt it that da-y dishonored. (Loud 
cries of hear, hear.) He went to the meeting, 
and took his seat on the- platform j: the business^ 



I 



LONDON. 195 

commenced by prayer; during- the reading of the 
report he saw Mr. Rankin coming down the aisle ; 
he (Mr. T.) looked an.xiously towards him, and at 
length caught his eye ; Mr. R. knew what he 
meant, and shook his head. He (Mr. T.) knew 
nothing of that note which Dr. Cox spoke of in 
liis book : he pledged his honor and his credit, 
that there was no intent to suppress that letter — 
no intention of tampering with Mr. Rankin ; it 
was purely * accidejital and unintentional ' that 
the letter was not produced; if it had, it would 
have been the text on which he (Mr. T.) should 
have spoken : he should have vindicated himself 
to his country, his constituents, and the abolition- 
ists of America, from the foul charge of making 
this a political question. (Hear, hear, and loud 
cJieers.) Mr. Rankin's shake oi' the head was 
enough to sadden him for the remainder of the 
day. The first resolution was moved by Mr. Bir- 
ney ; the second by the Rev. Baron Stow, who 
took that resolution which it was intended to give 
to the Rev. Doctor, should he have come unpre- 
pared with one of his own. Mr. T. then quoted 
the speech of the Rev. B. Stow, and stated that 
he was then called on to speak. He conjured his 
Baptist brethren, by their love to truth, and their 
hatred of comproraiseandexpediency, to imagine 
the circumstances in which he was then placed. 
(Hear, hear.) What did he say on thut occasion ? 
He would give his langtiage verbatim, taken down 
by Mr. Stansbury, a celebrated stenographist, 
brought from Washington to report the proceed- 
ings of the May meetings in the JVetv York Ob- 
server, a paper unfavorable to immediate aboli- 
tion, and a paper, the very number of which that 
contained his speech, contained an editorial arti- 
cle, censuring him (Mr. T.) for the severity of his 



196 MEETING AT 

Strictures on the conduct of Dr. Cox. Consider- 
ing all the cireumstances of the case, then, what 
was the measure of his guilt in uttering the fol- 
lowing words ? Mr. Thompson then road from 
the JVeiv York Observer, extracts from his speech 
on that occasion : the following is the concluding 
passage : 

'Two of his countrymen had been deputed to visit this 
country — one of them a member of the Committee of the 
British and Foreign Society for the Extinction of Slavery 
and the Slave Trade throughout the World^and beloHgingi 
to a Christian denomination which had actualty memorial- 
ized all their sister churches in this land on this subject. 
My heart leaped when I learned that they were to be here 
— especially that one of them whose name stood before the 
blank which is to be left in the record of this days pro- 
ceeding. Where ^ is he now 1 He is in this eity. Why 
is he not here 1 The reason I shall teave for himself to 
explain. Sir, (said Mr. T.) in this very fact, 1 behold a 
new proof of the power, of the omnipotence of slavery ; 
by its torpedo touch a maahas been struck dumb who was 
eloquent in England on the side of its open, opposecs. 
"What J is it come to this 1 Shall he,^ or shaM I, advocate 
the cause of emancipation, of imoa,ediate emancipation, 
only because we are Englishmen '? Perish the thought ? 
— before I can entei tain such a thought, I must be recre- 
ant to all the principfes of the Bible — to all the claims of 
truth, of honor, of humanity. No, Sir; if a man is not 
the same in every latitude — if he wouhd advocate a cause 
with eloquence and ardor in Exeter Hall, in the midst of 
admiring thousands — but, because he is in America, can 
close his lips, and desert the cause he once espoused — I 
denounce, I abjure him, as a coadjutor in the cause in 
which I am engaged. Let him carry his philanthropy 
home again ' — (loud cheers) — ' there let him display it iii> 
the loftiest or the tenderest strains ; but let him never step 
his foot abroad, until he is prepared to show to the world 
that he is the friend of his kind of every country.' (Loud 
and long-continued clipers.) 

*This,' said Mr. T., ' is the very head and front 
of my offending ! Judge ye whether I do oot^ 



LONDON. 197 

only stand excused, but stand justified ? — (heap, 
hear, and clieera)— whctlicr I should not have 
shared the guilt, if guilt there be, of deserting 
this cause, had 1 not said what I did say ? (Loud 
cheers.) I stand not here to palliate or to con- 
ceal ! No! I glory in what I have done; and 
I have said in the Committee of the British and 
Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, in the presence of 
Dr. Cox, that if I had to do it over again, I should 
do it as I have done — with this difterence only, 
that if my poor vocabulary v.ould furnish me with 
words in which more strongly to express my re- 
gret, my abhorrence for such conduct as that I 
liave described, I would use them. (Hear, hear, 
and differs.) I do not asl^ the meeting to looli 
critically at the words themselves, but to the sen- 
timents they convey, and either to justify or dis- 
approve my conduct."' (Loud cheers.) But now 
he must advert to the letter which Dr. Cox had 
sent, upon the suppression of which so much 
stress had been laid. The meeting had heard 
the report of his (Mr. T's) speech read from the 
JSJ^eAv York Observer; but Dr. Hoby, instead of 
taking that report — which, though furnished by 
an opponent, he (Mr. T.) preferred to a frieiid's 
— (laughter)— he (Dr. 11.) made a speech for him : 
«and he would wish the meeting to compare that 
speech with thn report he had just lead. Dr. 
Iloby said, 'Mr. Thompson commenced his 
Kppcch with a reference to the disappointment he 
felt at the absence of Dr. Cox, in temperate lan- 
anao-e, and such as could not give offence ; but 
he ought also to have read the short letter which 
was omitted. At the close of his address, he re- 
sumed, in a very different strain and spirit, the 
language of denunciation ; and, thong'h he chiefly 
referred to Dr. Cox, by speaking in the plural 

1? 



10^ MEfiTlNiG AT 

number of the delegates, he included both when 
he said they were 'men of whom their brethren 
and country ought to be ashamed, whom lie blush- 
ed to own as countrymen, and who, as recreant 
to their principles, and acting under the influence 
of disgraceful motives, were unfaithful represent- 
atives, and would be scorned on their return." ' — 
*Now, Sir,' (said Mr. Thompson) 'as Heaven is 
to be my judge, 1 uttered not a word of that ! ' 

Mr. Hark rose, and said that he recollected 
reading that part of Mr. Thompson's speech in 
the JVew York Evangelist. 

Mr. Thompson : Which ? 

Mr. Hare : That in which the word '^recre- 
ant' occurs; — which you have just read from the 
Vook. Mr. Thempson has said that Dr. Hoby 
made a speech for him. (Considerable confu- 
sion.) 

Mr. Thompson begged the meeting would not 
think that these intenuptions would be at all in- 
jurious to him, or coifuse in the slightest the 
train of his remarks. He would rather that ob- 
servations should be made at the moment at 
which they occurred to the persons present. Mr. 
Hare had said that the words which Dr. Hoby 
put into his (Mr. T's) mouth, he (Mr. H.) had read 
in the JVew York Evangelist; and therefore he 
supposed Mr. Hare meant to infer that Dr. Hoby 
had taken the words in question from that jour- 
nal ? 

Mr» Hare. — Certainly. 

Mr. THOMPsoN.~But what said Dr. Hoby.? 
* These words, or words of a similar import, are 



LONDOlV. 199 

wo^ given in the printed reports of the speeches, 
■which differ much from one another ' (loud laugh- 
ter, and long continued cheering ;) ' but enough 
is given with tiie direct sanction of the Society ;' 
and tiien came a note of his speech, taken almost 
verbatim from the report which he had just read 
in the JVeiv York Observer: — 'Enough is given 
with the direct sanction of the Society, to justify 
the interruption occasioned hy my advancing to 
the front of the gallery, and, apologizing for such 
interference, requesting Mr. T. to forego all such 
censure, as both unjustifiable and injurious.' Such 
a report might have appeared in the JVeiv York 
Evangelist, but both the Evangelist and Observer 
were sent to him with a note, begging lie would 
choose the best report, to be furnished for inser- 
tion in the official report of the meeting, and he 
could not remember that he had seen in the 
Evangelist any thing like the language attributed 
to him by Dr. Hoby. If Mr. Hare could find in 
the A''(:w York Evangelist a copy of that speech, 
lie [Mr. Thompson] would be obliged by its be- 
ing forwarded to him, and he would see that it 
should he published in the pamphlet he was about 
to lay before the world. Thus they had arrived 
at the close of that day's proceedings. But he 
had yet to read the letter which Dr. Cox had sent 
to the American Anti-Slavery Society ; and were 
he disposed to censure the Doctor, he should say 
that that letter was the most unkind, unchristian 
letter that a man could frame. He would ask his 
brethren around him, who had been his honored 
coadjutors in this cause, Did they ever place it 
upon political principles? [Loud cries of ' No, 
no.'] Did they ever make any way, was not the 
vessel of abolition ever retarded, by its own vis 
ineyti(Sf until they assumed the high ground, that 



aOO MEETING AT 

slaveholdinfr was a sin in the eye of God? 
[Cheers.] Wl)at did the Doctor say in this let- 
ter ? — ' If I decline the honor of appearing on 
your platform this day, on occasion of your anni- 
versary meeting, I raust be understood to assume 
a position of neutrality.' 'Neutrality ! ' [said Mr. 
T.] ' If there be a word in the English language 
that I loathe more tiian another, it is that word 
'neutrality.' [Loud cheers.] 'Neutrality!' God 
abhors it! 'Neutrality!' 'Choose ye tiiis doy 
whom ye will serve ' — ' Why halt ye between 
two opinions ? ' Why stand ye, motionless as a 
pendulum, with weeping, suffering, bleeding hu- 
manity, here, and frowning despotism there? 
[Iminense applause.] ' Neutrality !' with the Bi- 
ble in your hand — witb your ecclesiastical honors 
thick upon you [loud laugliter and cbeers] — witli 
your ecclesiastical appointments in your pockets, 
and tlie pledges remembered, or which ought to 
liave been remembered, why stand ye neutral? 
[Tremendous cheering.] 'I must be understood 
to assume a position of neutrality, not with re- 
gard to those great principles and objects whicji 
it is well known Britain in general, and our do- 
nomination in particular, have maintained and 
promoted, but with regard solely to the political 
"bearings of the question witb which, as a stran- 
ger, a foreigner, a visitor, T could not attempt to 
intermeddle.' ' Now, Sirs,^ [continuod Mr. T.] 
'this was 'the unkindest cut of all ! ' Suppose 
1 had had that letter, should I hive been afraid to 
read it? [Hear, hear.] Think you that the indi- 
vidual who has come here to-night with the throat 
"before his eyes, that if he dares to speak honestly 
he 'shall be crushed,' [' Shame, shame ! '] — thinlc 
you that such an individual would have feared to 
read that letter?' [Loud applause.] Oh, 'I must 



LONDON. 201 

liave had ' some covert, powerful, all-sufficient 
motive,' for suppressing' that letter. — [laughter, 
and cheers,] — enough to induce Dr. Cox to play 
upon the word with dray-horse Avit, going most 
sluggishly along, [loud laughter,] liarping contin- 
ually upon it, that the concealment of that letter 
was, ' perhaps, purely accidental and uninten- 
tional,' and intimating, but in Latin, that my ve- 
racity ought to be, and cannot but be, doribted. 
[Cheers.] What was tiiere in that letter that I 
should wish to conceal ? If I had been tempted 
to conceal it, it would have been under a very 
different motive from that which has been insinu- 
ated. 1 do say, that, branding me, as it does, 
most unequivocally, as an ' intermeddler,' — for I 
was ' a foreigner,' I was ' a ^stranger,' I was 'a 
visitor,' — I say, Avithout hesitation, that letter 
marked me out for immolation. [Enthusiastic 
cheering.] There were thousands in that city 
waiting to rejoice over my destruction ; there 
were paid myrmidons, seeking my blood ; and 
here was my countryman, branding me as a for- 
eigner, a stranger, a visitor, and, therefore, as an 
' intermeddler.' [Loud cries of ' Shame, shame,'] 
Think you that, for these reasons, T should have 
withheld it? Oh, that I had had that letter ! One of 
old exclaimed, ' Would that mine enemy would 
write a book ! ' Had he lived in these days, ho 
would have said, ' Would that mine enemy would 
write a note ! ' — [Trnmense cheering.] — would that 
mine enemy would print a note! [Laughter and 
renewed cheering.] 'The political bearings of 
the question,' ' with Avhich, as a stranger, a for- 
eigner, a visitor, I could not intermeddle.' Now, 
Avas Dr. Cox called on to intermeddle ? Yes \ 
When he Avas selected as one of the Baptist del- 
egates was he expected to advocate the auti-sls' 



202 MEETING AT 

vory cause ? He was. When the appeal was 
made to tlie Baptist churches to support the inis- 
sion, were tkcy led to expect that the Deputation 
would advocate tlie aiui-slavery^ cause ? They 
were. When Dr. Cox was in the midst of his 
brethren, was this question puttcj him — 'Dr. Cox, 
you know the prejudices that exist in America 
ao-ainst colored people, — what will you do ? ' tmd 
what did he reply .^' 

The Rkv. Mr. Belcher asked, Where? [Par- 
tial cries of 'Hear, hear,' and some confusion.] 

The Rkv.. T. Price rose and said, 'I stated at 
m meeting at Fen-court, in the presence of Dr. 
Cox, that I liad put that question to him, and Dr. 
Cox never denied it.' (Loud cries of ' Hear, 
hear.'l 

The Rev. J. Belcher : That was not my ques- 
tion. Where was the question put? [Great 
confusion.] 

The Rev. T. Price : I did not intend to speak 
tonight, but there is something so exceedingly 
disingenuous — I mii'^ht use a stronger term — in 
this attempt of Mr. Belcher's to throw dust in the 
eyes of the Assembly, that I must state these, 
facts. I stated two or three months ago, in the 
presence of Dr. Cox, at Fen-court, the questions 
I had put to him before he went to America ; and 
I stated further the answers which Dr. Cox had 
given to me. It was then asked where T had put 
them. I replied that I thought it was at a cer- 
tain place, but I could not exactly remember 
where ; it was however at one of the meetings of 
the Committee of the Baptist Union, and Dr. Cox 
.{lever deujed tliat those questions were so put tp 



LONDON. 203 

liim and answered by him. Some of the Com- 
mittee said they heard me put the qnestions, 
though they could not remember the room where 
they were put. [Loud cheers.] 

Mr. Law, who rose amidst great confusion, 
was understood to observe that as this discussion 
would be greatly protracted, so as probably to ex- 
clude any possibility of a reply, he thought it 
would be well to observe that the remarks of Mr. 
Price seemed to intimate that the entire body of 
ministers of the Baptist denomination concurr'sd 
in the questions which he had proposed to Dr. 
Cox. 

Mr. Thouipson said, these interruptions were 
out of order, and he perhaps should have stated 
before, that he was not bound to hear remarks 
from any individual present; the only persons 
with whom he had to do were Drs. Cox and Hoby. 
He had written to Dr. Cox the following letter: 

'Rev. Sik, — Tlie Baptist Cliapel in Dovonsliire 
S(iuare haviiifj bee« kindly oftbred me for the delivery of 
a lecture on American Slavery, and the j)rinciples and pro- 
gress of the Anti-SIaveiy Society in the ITnited States; 
and also for the purpope of giving information relative to 
the course I felt it my duty to adopt in reference to your- 
self and colleague, Dr. Hoby; I beg to inform you that I 
have accepted the offer, and decided to hold a public meet- 
ing on Thursday evening next, the 26th inst. I deem it 
an act of justice to accjuaiiit you with this intention, and 
to say that fidl opportun-ity will be afforded you of demand- 
Tng any explanation of my public conduct in the United 
States, in reference either to yourself or the cause which I 
advocated, and to reply in detail to any of the statements 
1 may consider it necessary to make.' 

This letter Avas dated May 20. Dr. Cox ac- 
knowlod the receipt of that letter in the Patriitt 



5J04 MfifiTtNG AT 

of yesterday, {Wednesday, the _25th ;) he said he 
'had employed his pen, and he meant to save hie 
breath.' 

Mil. Baldwin : I rise, sir, upon a point of or- 
der. I submit, that no person can address this 
assembly, except Drs. Cox and Hoby, or some 
persons delegated by tiiem to act on their behalf. 
[Hear, hear, iiear.J 

Mr. PewtrIsss rose to move the adjournment. 
[Cries of ' No, no.'] 

Mr. Thompson: Sir, this is my lecture ; it is 
not competent for any person to move an adjourn- 
ment. [Loud cries of Hear, hear.'] 

Tlie Rev. T. Price : I have given Mr. Thomp- 
son permission to deliver his lecture in this 
chapel, and he can occupy it as long as he pleas- 
es ; no other person has a right to move the ad- 
journment. [Cheers.] 

Mr. THOMrsoN, after a short discussion, pro- 
ceeded. Ho had written to Dr. Hoby also ; and 
as the Dr. had requested that his letter should be 
read at the lecture, he should read it, whatever 
might be afterwards decided as to tiie adjourn- 
ment, respecting which he was completely in the 
hands of the audience. He would merely ob- 
serve, that the letter to Dr. Hoby differed scarce- 
ly in any thing from that sent to Dr. Cox. The 
followino- is the loiter of Dr. Hoby, dated at 
Ledbury, May 24, 183G. 

<Siii, — I duly received yonr letter of the 20th, commn- 
nica,ting your intention to hold a meeting on tlie 26tl« inst., 
f(^ the purposes therein explained, and inviting my attend- 
ance, for reasons therein specified. In reply, I I'.ave only 



LONDON. 205 

to say, that to be in London at that time, is entirely out of 
tny power; 1 write tliis while on my waytoom* Associa- 
tion at Coleford, and to undertake so long a journey, ex- 
pressly for such a purpose, would be altogelher out of the 
question- No previous conference having taken place to 
tiscertain what would suit my convenience^ is of course 
evidence that any concurrence on my part as to the desira- 
bleness of such a meeting was quite immaterial. As you 
Bay, * you deem it an act of justice to acquaint me,' &c., I 
have only to add, that if the same sense of justice dictates 
your statements at this meeting, nothing will be said, ' an 
explanation ' of which I shall at all be solicitous to demand, 
or about which I shall be in the least concerned to ' reply 
in detail.' You well knew, sir, that to the great cause 
of abolition, — immediate, total, universal aliolition, — I 
was as much pledged as yourself when in America, and 
that I advocated it ceaselessly upon principles, and in a 
way, which niy own judgment approved. If my course of 
proceeding did not altogether approve itself to your judg- 
ment, and that of some of our friends, I presume I was, 
nevertheless, at liberty to pursue my own course, actuated, 
as I know I was, by as righteous an abhorrence of the in- 
iquitous system of slavery as yourself. When you bear in 
mind, that I was not so much as invited to attend the 
meeting at New York, nor even referred to in the invita- 
tion addressed to Dr. Cox, you will perceive that I have 
Bome reason to complain of unconrteousness there, and of 
the extreme readiness of many here to pour their anony- 
mous vituperations upon a course of conduct which they had 
not given themselves the trouble to inquire into and un- 
derstand. I have only further to express my most earnest 
hope, that, notwithstanding the intemperance and indis- 
cretion which appear to me to have characterized many of 
the efforts to awaken hostility against American Christians, 
God will overrule, so that the torpor and apathy of too 
many of all denominations, respecting this awful iniquity of 
slavery, will speedily give place to a holy, philanthropic, 
and righteous sensibility, which shall hasten both to confess 
and to compensate the wrongs inflicted on injured Africa. 
I hereby express my entire concurrence in the course my 
colleague pursued relative to an invitation which had noth- 
ing to do with our obligation, and retjuest, in conclusion, 
that your letter to me, and (his re|ily,may be read at the 
meeting of the 26th.' 
18 



*i06 



MEETING AT LONDON. 



Dr. Cox had availed himself of the Patriot 
newspaper. Mr. Thompson then read the con- 
cluding paragraph of Dr. Cox's letter contained 
in the Patriot of Wednesday, the 25lh inst. He 
conceived that, after these letters, no person had 
a right to address that assembly, on behalf of 
either Dr. Cox or Dr. Hoby, unless they had au- 
thority to do so from them. [Cheers.] 

Some discussion then arose as to the propriety 
of an adjournment, and it was ultimately agreed, 
that Mr. Thompson should defer the conclusion of 
his observations u»til Monday evening, the 38l& 
ult. 

The audience then separated.. 



ADJOUUNED MEETING. 

The adjo irned meeting was held at Finsbiiry 
Ch.ipel, on Monday oveninir lust, the attendance 
at which was very numerous. At half-past six, 

William Knight, Es^., took the chair, and 
said, that having been requested to preside over 
the naeeting held in Devonshire Square, last 
Thursd;iy evening, and this being only an ad- 
journment of that meeting, of course it was his 
duty to take the chair on the present occasion. 
Notices had been sent to Brs. Vox and Hoby of 
the present meeting, and if they appeared, of 
course they would be heard. But he begged it 
to be under^stood, and he hoped the meeting 
would support him in that derision, that no other 
individual could be heard, unless he was deptited 
in writing by those gRntletnnn to address this as- 
sembly on their behalf. (Hear, hear.] 

Mr. Thompson then rose to address the audi- 
ence, and was received with loud applause. After 
airain assuring the meeting, that he was not ac- 
tuated by a;iy personal feelings in reference to 
the remarks he was about to niake, he observ- 
ed, with regard to slavery and the slave-trade, 
(that at the present iijoraent 5,500,000 hunmfl 



208 MEETING AT 

beings were held in bondage by Christian nations, 
and that Africa was still robbed of 200,000 of her 
children annually. It was therefore necessary 
that this nation should be as alert upon the sub- 
ject of the slave-trade as she had ever been. He 
believed that not 1,000 less slaves had been car- 
ried from the coast of Africa, in consequence of 
all the eloquence of a Wilberforce, and all the 
untiring labors of a Clarkson ! Let it be granted, 
as it was sometimes said, that it was England 
Avho had fastened the horrid system of slavery on 
America; that it was England who had planted 
that upas here, and that, from age to age, the 
Anglo-Americans had watered its roots, given 
fertility to its branches, and circulation to its 
fruit. Let that be granted, and he would say to 
America, 'If you criminate us, and if this charge 
be brought home upon us, in penitential acknowl- 
edgment for our sin, we go forth, wishing to 
bring forth fruits meet for repentance, to that 
land where we have sown the seed, and brought 
up the crop, in order that we may tear up the tree 
by its roots, and brandish it in triumph over the 
heads of the tyrants. [Loud and long continued 
cheers.] If America wanted England to bear 
the disgrace of doing the deed, England wanted 
to have the honor of undoing the deed. [Loud 
cheers.] In the slave estates of America it was 
a common occurrence to see a coffle, which was 
a gang of 60, 80, or 100 slaves, with the women 
huddled up in a waggon, taken to different parts 
of the country, with the 'star-spangled banner of 
America' floating over their heads, and with the 
music playing to cheer them, while being driven 
to the Capital of Washington.' M. T. then read 
a dialogue which had taken place between a Car- 
olinian and a Mississippian planter on board a 



LONDON. 2Q9 

«teambont, which was well authenticated by the 
gentleman who heard it. The topic of conver- 
sation was the vahie of slaves; and it was stated 
that, if under a certain weight, (oOlbs.) the young 
hays were sold at nine dollars per pound ; so that 
•children were, by religious rnen, weighed in 
scales, and sold by the pound like meat. [' Shame, 
sliame.'] Every paper published in Washing- 
ton and Alexandria was filled with advertise- 
ments of slaves, stating the terms, and inviting 
purchasers to come in and look round 'the stock? 
Mrs. Child, the authoress of several works on edu- 
cation, had informed lum{Mr. T.] of the follow- 
ing fact, which came under her own knowledge. 
A physician, named Wallace, had married a young 
lady from t!ie South, with faint traces of a very 
'remote conne.xion with the negro race. He took 
her to Alexandria, and placed her at the head of 
his establishment. They had not long been there 
when a person called upon the physician, and 
told him that his wife was his female slave, and 
demaded $800 for her, saying, at the same time, 
that she was ' honestly worth 1,000.' [Laughter.] 
On inquiry, he found that his wife had been a 
slave; butshe further informed him, that the man 
who claimed her as his slave was her father. 
[* Shame, shame.'] That was a specimen of 
American slavery, and yet Doctors of Divinity, 
with both hands, and Englishmen too, said, for- 
eooth, that he [Mr. T.] was 'a cahmiiniator,' be- 
cause he said of America, that she was a wicked 
nation. [Loud Cheers.] The statements con- 
tained in the book to which he had formerly re- 
ferred, The Baptists in America^ reminded him 
'Of the couplet of Hudibras — 

' They who drive fat oxen 
Should themselves be fat.' (Laughter.) 

IS* 



210 MEETING AT 

The author who had charged him [Mr. T.] with 
being a cahimniator, because he had called Amer- 
ica a wicked nation, in speaking of France, had 
used this singular expression : ' I rejoice that we 
are uniting in sending missionaries to the wick- 
ed, infatuated, and infidel country of France/ 
[Cheers.] When he [Mr. T.] said America was 
a wicked nation, he had told it to the Americana 
themselves a hundred times ; and it would be his 
consolation, that, whatever he had said of them, 
he had said before their face. [Cheers.] The 
slaves of America were, almost without excep- 
tion, without religious instruction. There were 
not twelve men in the United States exclusively- 
devoted to the religious instruction of the slave 
population. He stated that on the authority of 
the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia. He 
had never taken up the question of slavery as 
connected with their bodies only: he had always 
taken his stand upon the ground, that slave-hold- 
ing was in itself unjustifiable. In America, the 
Bible Society had offered, in concert with other 
nations, to give the sacred Scriptures to every 
individual upon the face of the earth, in his ver- 
nacular tongue, in 20 years, while there were 
460,000 familes, at the lowest estimate, of slaves 
in the United States, who were not comprehend- 
ed in their design. [Hear, hear, hear.] Yet, it 
he should say that, and put at the end of it, that 
America was a wicked nation, oh, he was told, 
he was ' a calumniator.' [Loud cheers.] The 
city of Charleston, had given $500 to the Tract 
Society, and the very next year had sent a citi- 
zen to a dungeon for having given a tract to one 
of the slave population. ['Shame shame.'] He 
must say of American slavery, that it was a sys- 
tem of blood, — of soul murder : it put out the 



XONDGN. 5J11 

^eyeg of the soul ; it darkened, and covered with 
ieprosy and disease, the already depraved facul- 
5ties of human nature ; and it left 2,580,000 persons 
•i^^to grope their way through darknes and degrada- 
tion here, to everlasting darkness beyond the 
:;grave. [Cheers.] It had been confessed by ec- 
»^ciesiastical authorities, that there were 2,000,000 
^f slaves in America who never heard the name 
of Christ. (Hear, hear,) Mr. T. then entered 
"into a number of details, for the purpose of show- 
ing the prejudice which was entertained in Amer- 
ica against free persons of color. What was the 
-^excuse sometimes made for that prejudice ? 'Oh, 
they have a disagreeable smell.' (Laughter.) 
He (Mr. T.) could never detect any such smell ; 
and, indeed, it was never found that they did have 
such a * smell ' so long as they continued slaves. 
(Hear.) It was when they had obtained their 
freedom that the 'smell ' was perceived. (Laugh- 
ter.) And he did not wonder at it; for nothing 
stunk so much in the nostrils of a tyrant as liber- 
ty ! (Loud and long continued cheering.) When 
travelling in one of the American steamboats, a 
gentleman and lady of color came on board in 
their carriage; and he (Mr. T.) resolved upon 
watching the mode in which they were treated. 
When tea was announced, he went into the 
cabin, and being some time engaged in conver- 
sation with an individual of great eminence. Dr. 
Graham, he lost sight of his colored compan- 
ions. About seven in the evening, he (Mr. T.) 
went upon deck, and there observed the lady 
seated upon a heap of luggage, her husband 
standing by her side : the night was dark and 
cold, and a mist descended which would wet any 
person through to the skin in an hour. He (Mr. 
■ T.) returned to the cabin, and said to Dr. Graham, 



212 MEETIN^G AT 

* Come on deck, Dr. G., and if you have a blusfo 
for your country let me see it now ! ' (Clieers.) 
On their return to the deck, they found the gen- 
tleman intercedinof with the cook to allow hi* 
lady to sit in the kitchen, as he feared the cold 
would cause her death, if she were compelled to 
be exposed to it all night ! ^Hear, hear, and 
shame !j Dr. G. asked the gentleman why it 
was that he had not paid for his passage in the 
cabin, — to which he replied, that he had offered 
to pay for it — that the captain would not take the 
money, and that he would gladly have given 
twenty times the fare, that he might obtain that 
comfort for his lady ! fLoud cries of ' Shame I 
shame I) That lady was obliged to continue in 
kitchen — the most disagreeable place on board 
the steam-vessel, while ministers of the gospel, 
lawyers, merchants, were lolling upon sofas in the 
cabin, and not one of them would show kindness 
to a woman under such circumstances. That 
was the character of American slavery, and yet 
a man was a calumniator, 'because he called 
America a wicked nation.' fCheers.j It was 
the prejudice entertained against the free people 
of color, which led to the establishment of the 
Colonization Society, which had been based upon 
prejudice, which made its appeal to prejudice, but 
which could not continue to exist, the abolition- 
ists having shown the wickedness of that preju- 
dice. The effect of prejudice against the color- 
ed population had been to crush their spirit; 
nevertheless, he ^Mr. T.) had found among them 
intellect of the highest order, virtue of the most 
resplendent kind, and piety as sincere and fer- 
vent as that which distinguished the wisest, and 
best, and holiest of the land. If a white man 
were to be seen shaking hands with a man of 



LONDON. 213 

color, lie himself would never be respected again ; 
ifhe took his arm he would be less respected 
than if he had taken the arm of Beelzebub. 
/Laughter.j There was no justice in America 
for the colored man. If he knew how to make 
a bow and was dressed like a gentleman, with a 
ring on his finger, then, — ' how proud these col- 
ored people are I ' — If he did not dress well, ' they 
are degraded, — utterly irreclaimable ! ' If he 
appeared dejected, 'the whole race is sullen 
and revengeful!' If they were inclined to be 
cheerful, 'they are so saucy and impudent!' 
/Laughter.J If one of them were seen intoxi- 
cated, then the whole was a race of drunkards ; 
if one were to be found dis^honest, they were all 
called thieves : if one was slothful, then they 
nere all lazy : if one was profane, all were blas- 
phemers! /'Hear, hearj This prejudice even 
existed in religious privileges of the colored peo- 
ple, and also deprived thetn of their political 
rights. In a large village called Salem, if a colored 
man, he was assured on good authority, took a 
house in one of the principal streets, the value of 
the property in that street became depreciated 
75 per cent. The predecessor of Dr. Sprague 
had treated the colored people with great re- 
spect ; he was a kind-hearted man ; he had a 
considerable number of colored people in his con- 
gregation, with whom he lived in the greatest 
cordiality; and they were exceedingly attached 
to him. When Dr. Sprague succeeded to the 
pastoral charge, it was proposed that the colored 
people should be placed by themselves, where., 
it was said, ' they would be more comfortable.' 
Ten peAvs were set apart for them in the gallery, 
'a nice comfortable partition' ran along this por- 
tion of the chapel,, with ' a nici< gr.ee q .curtain ito 



214 MEETING AT 

prevent them from seeing the other parts of the 
congregation.' The colored people remonstrated 
against this invidious distinction, but it was vain. 
What was the consequence ? Every colored 
man, woman, and child, left that chapel immedi- 
ately ! ('L )ud cheers j — and there was not at this 
moment, in all Dr. S's church, one colored wor- 
shipper ! What would that minister he able to 
say when God demanded at his hand these pre- 
cious souls with whom he had been intrusted? 
CHear, hear.J Theodore S. Wright, a minister in 
New York, a man of color, had increa«pd the 
numbers of his church from 17 to 376 ; he had 
given SlOO to the anti-slavery cause, but having, 
in conjunction with his son, to travel in the steam- 
boat from New York to Washington, they were 
eompelled to remain on d»^ck during the voyage ; 
indeed they were not allowed to pass the paddlr- 
boxes I fCries of ' Shame ! 'j The avenues to 
learning had been closed to the colored people ; 
but he fiVIr. T.; rejoiced, that at the present day 
there were four colleges open for them. ^Cheers.) 
Mr. Tappan had himself given $20,000 to a col- 
lege on the express condition that it should ad- 
mit colored people to its privileges and advanta- 
ges. When a person wished to join an anti* 
slavery society in America, it was a sine qua nan 
that he had discharged all his prejudice against 
the colored population. fCheers.j 

One word with regard to the character of the ab- 
olitionists of America. He felt astonished at the 
amount of mind which had been thrown into the 
cause. William Lloyd Garrison had been particu- 
larly active and prudent; hehad been condemned for 
havinsf shot a-head with seven-lea g-ue boots, the 
superannuated tortoise speed of his reverend 
brethren around him. ('Laughter.j That had, how. 



LONDON. 215 

ever, ever been the reproach of reformers. fLond 
and general cheering'.j The question of Amer- 
ican Slavery had been branded as a political 
question, not only by the enemies of freedom in 
America, but from some whom they might have 
expected better things. ('Hear, hear.j Mr. T. 
then read an extract from a lecture delivered in 
connection with the Jiritish and Foreign Anti- 
Slavery Society, together with the constitution 
of the National Society of New York, m order 
to prove that there was nothing pol.tical in the 
objects contemplated. The missionary who went 
from this country to any foreign land, might be 
said, to a certam extent, to interfere with the 
politics of that country, inasmuch as the tendency 
of Christianity was to disturb the system whicfi 
there prevailed. To brand this cause as a polit- 
ical question was to pronounce a cens'ire on every 
missionary who ever went on a foreign shore to 
preach the gospel of Christ. If it were a politi- 
cal question, how came it that at the present day 
the churches in America were taking up the sub- 
ject, and fasting, and holding prayer meetings in 
reference to it ? It was too bad lor a man to go 
3,000 miles to brand the Anti-Slavery Society as 
politicians, (immense oheering.j Mr. T. was 
then about to continue his narrative relative to 
the conduct of Dr. Cox in America, when it was 
suggested that it was desirable he should take 
a few minutes' rest. 

The CnAimTAN expressed a wish, that the iter- 
im slio'jld be filled u]>, by Mr. M. Roper's stating 
some facts with wliich he was conversant. 

(Considerable opposition was made to this sug- 
gestion. One gentleman exclaimed, ' Mr. Roper 
is Dr. Cox's protege.^ Another gentleman rose, 



216 MEETING AT 

and pertinaciously persisted in attempting to ad-^ 
dress the meeting. 

Tiie Chairman reminded him of the remark 
he had made at the commencement of the meet- 
ing ; but it was not till marks of disapprob^ation,. 
and cries of ' Turn him out,' issued from ever/ 
part of the building, that he resumed his seat. 

The Rev. A. Fletcher, stated that when Mr*- 
Roper was brought over into this country, he came 
■with a letter of mtroduction to him, and had since 
been supported by some other ministers. 

A Gentleman, whose name we could not 
learn, said, that Dr. Cox bore a part in the ex- 
pense of Mr. Roper's education. (Hear, hear, 
and faint applause.^ 

Mr. Roper then stood forward, and observed 
with considerable warmth, that Dr. Cox did pay 
a portion towards his education, but that should 
not hinder him from advocating the cause of his 
mother, brethren, and sisters, now in bondage. 
(Loud cheers.j He was grateful to Dr. Cox for 
that which he was doin<r for him ; but at the same 
time his principles were not to be boughtr 
fCheers.j There was not a Christian society in 
America, which did not hold slaves, except the 
Society of Friends. (Cheers.^ In Salem, a town 
in South Carolina, containing perhaps 20,00Q 
Quakers, there was not a single slave, though 
they were surrounded by a slaveholding popula- 
tion. fCheers.j He had run away from his mas- 
ter, and was cfoinof to see his mother in North 
Carolina. He had to pass through the town of 
Salisbury, where there was a Quaker in jail, wha 
was to be executed on the following Friday, for 



LONIJON. 21? 

having nriv-cn a slave a free pass. {'Shame, 
/^hamc.') Mr. Thompson had ^iv.„ them an^c 
eount of some bad slaveholders: he (Mr R^ 
would tell them of some good ores. A maWr 
^ntl. whom he once lived, Mr. Beveridgcin trav- 
ehing froni Apa ache to Columbia, having to pass 
hroughth(3 Indian nations,- it was necelsary for 
lum to take arms. He wag taken exceedino-Iy 
il, and could neither stand up nor sit down. He 
vr Vw /'''V' ^''"^ containing $20,000, and he 
[Mr. 1. ) took the pistols and protected his mas- 
ter and his master's property. WJien he arrived 
at t.olumbia, his master becomino- embarrassed 
in circumstances, sold him on a block ; that wa^ 
hisjnndness to him, fMr. R.) for saving his mas- 
ters life and protecting his property. ^ Another 
good master, was Colonel M'Gillon,a Scotchman, 
vho held about 300 slaves, and whc; nsed to boas 
«iKit he never flogged them. H,s mode of pun- 
>siing them, was to gel a rice hogshead, into 
wh.ch several nails were driven about a quarter 
of an inch through, and the slave then bein^ 
/astenedin, he nsed to roll thom down a very 
feep hill. ('Shame, shame.') At one of "in 
iPviva meetings, of which he had heard so much 

came ,n and took their seats in the pew for iiK 
qmrers. Holding down their heads they we e 
^o observed; but some ladies comin^v fp, and 
l^^ot.cmg their color, left the pew direct!}. (Hea,-; 

Ma. Thompson then resumed his lecture Tf 
might be asked by some, why lie made tl rs a'pe 
son. nuestion? Why he did not content ifim- 
se.f by merely bringing forward the subiec of 
American Slavery without alluding to any indi- 



^JQ MEETING AT 

viduals or any denomination ? His answer W 

han!^srthat^.e held in his hand a book [1 he 

Bmtists in America] contaimng from five to six 

apa pages, ^^^'in:!^^:^^:! 

fmv nic" umniated great and good men m Ame - 
ica and with ' rolling back the cause by his un- 
me'a red ldt«peratio°ns,' by his; exasperatmg ex^ 
pressions,' an(l in a variety ot other "»?"• 1» 
^vhich hoik he was charged w,lh gross mjnslice, 
for havin<', at a public meeting in New\ork, 
Ifought fit'to doniunce a countrjman of hisow K 
He was tohl on a certam occasion, that t.ie y. 
" ^^uld 'spare hun,' and It ludeen.^^^^^^^^ 
hefMr.T.; manifested consic^erable i.nt.bi..ty 
when that expression was used. bir, ^aiu lu 
T 'Im-^nifested no more then, than I manitest 
now and which I shall continue to manifest, a 
to indicrnation. (CheersO VVhen any ind.v.d^ 
'nal tell-^Goor.re Thompson, wlio has put his life 
nto hi^HandsTand who' has gone where slavery 
s dfe'wl en , George Thompson, am told that 

nn fivor' * {Tmmense chcennor. _ ^''^^: *"" '' 
no idvor . ^luiniv, /npnfpiiinor ao- 

^,^ anv thintr but spare mo! ^ucaTemn^ <jp 
do «"y/'^ "- " ^1 , I ask not to be spared ! 
piause.) fepaic mi^ . , . 

L.kfor justice to ,■"/, !''"^^,- .Jj'tt a pub ic 
cause on public ground,. J^,^^'^^'"",,,^' ,„!»,. 
n\;trrtrllt^nd%&'k.am 
br nded "; 'a cnUimniator ; ' when it ,s asserted 
th o ,'h that book, that I have '^"^^f^,^^^ !' « 
cause ' to an ' almost irretrievable distance, in 



LONDON. 219 

Americn, 1 am called upon to ta!;e this book and 
redeem myself, as a public advocate of a public 
cause, from every chargfc? which directly or indi- 
rectly ali'ects my repiiUition or chaiactcr as a 
qualified agent of the AiUi-Slaveiy Society. 
(LiOud cheers.) But whet right had they to expect 
that Dr. Cox would advocate tlie cause of eman- 
cipation in America ? Dr. Cox had, before ho 
went out, said, in the presence of gentlemen, 
who were now present ' I go in the j-pirit of Ji 
martyr.' What was the spirit of a martyr ? It 
was not the spirit of compromise — it was not 
the spirit of silence — it w as not the spirit of 
timidity. (Loud cheers.) What was the sjiirit 
of a martyr? It was the spirit displayed by 
Luther, by Crannu.^r, by Paul, and the Lord and 
Maker of them all! (Loud cheers.) Was Dr. 
Cox called upon to advocate the anti-slavery 
cause.' Ho was. No man ever crossed the At^ 
lantic, on any mission, more pledged to advocate 
the cau^e tlian was Dr. Cox. lie would quote a 
lettf^r contained in the Baptist Magazine for the 
month of November, 1834, whicli had been sent 
forth by the Baptist Union, from whom that gen- 
tleman went, to various churches, calling upon 
tlicm for pecuniary aid to support that mission : 

* But whilst Ave achnire lln-ir vigorous en'orts for the 
spread of the go8f>el, and those free institutions under 
whose influences those exertions have Ijeeii made, we do 
not shut our eyes to (he fact, tliat in (his land of lil)erly, 
negro slavery is legalized, and is sufl'ered to remain a foul 
blot on their national cliara( ter. It is, perhaps, within 
your recollection, that at the commencement of last win- 
ter, the Baptist iioard in Lo)ulon, sent to their brethren 
a memorial on tliis subject, which they requested might i>o 
laid before the Triennial Convention. To what extent 
the brethren thus memorialized are jjartakers of this na-* 
Muuul siuj we are utterly igaoraiu, We are jjhid ;q kava 



^20 MEETING AT 

that the voice of many of tliem 5s liftcil up against It, anci 
we send our deputation to promote most zealously, and to 
the utmost of their ability, in ll.'u spirit of love^ of discre- 
tion, and of fidclily, hut still most zealously, to promote 
4he sacred cause of negro emancipation.' 

What was the conduct of one of that deputa- 
tion ? The business of the Triennial Convention 
was done, and the deputation returned to New- 
York ; one of them was respectfully invited ta 
attend the anti-slavery meeting' to be held in that 
jcity, to mingle with men with whom it was an 
iionor to be associated — nature's nobles (cheers ;} 
and iiow did he reply? While he wished the 
honor of being- an abolitionisjt, he sliunned the 
work. He stated that he was with the meeting 
in heart, but that he did not go because of the 
■political bearings of the question. (Applause.t) 
And what did he do then? Having written a 
brief apology, he went back to a mo&t appropri-- 
«te meeting for a gentleman who had resolved 
to be dumb on negro slavery. Where did Dr^ 
Cox go to ? He had said, ' Having written Uiis 
brief apology to the Anti-Slavery So2iety, I 
went to the meeting for the deaf and the dumb.' 
((Laughter, and loud cheers.) A very fit subject 
for the benevolent operations of that Society-; 
would that they had cured him. (Laughter, and 
great applause.) The doctor went from New 
York to Boston, and was again invited to attend 
an Anti-Slavery Convetion there, but again de^ 
dined. He would now come to a particular part of 
the narrative, to which he begged the special at 
tention of his friends. The doctor would not 
open his lips in the Triennial Convention of 
Richmond, on the subject of slavery, though it was 
expected by the ministers in the slaveholding 
.flutes. :th.at. he would brir."- forward th&t subiect. 



LONDON'. ^2?1 

Tiie doctoi' assigned as his reason, that if he liad 
opened liis lips on tiiat subject, one of t^^"o thin^^s 
would have liappened. Tiie Convention would 
Imve been broken up by magisterial interference, 
or his brethren would liave spontaneously with- 
drawn. Die doctor gave the niost glowing des- 
cription of the heavenly state of the atmosphere 
in wliich he breathed in that Convention. At 
page 41) of his book, he said, when speaking of 
tire Convention, ' If doubts liad arisen in any 
mijids as to the course the deputation from Eng- 
hmd intended to pursue, in their public intercourse 
with their brethren, witli respect to subjects of 
x'hiil importance,' — that was to say, if any num- 
ber of individuals belonging to the Convention 
expected that the doctor or his colleague would 
have introduced the agitating- question respect- 
ing tlie negroes and people of color — ' It was only 
like the cloud ofa summer morning, which speed- 
ily disappeared in the brightening sunshine.' 
How did they remove those doubts? Certainly 
not by speaking out. So soon as the Convention 
were Convinced that their clerical brethren meant 
to be deaf and dumb, then every cloud passed 
away, and all was cordiality and union. (Cheers.) 
VVhat was to be thought of such an anion as 
that ? (Hear, hear.) 

From Boston the doctor proceeded to New 
Hampsiiire, and amongst the green hills a meet- 
ing of free-will Baptists was held. They were 
almost all abtditionists ; an anti-slavery meeting 
was held, there was no fear of a jacket of tar and! 
feathers, and there Dr. Cox supported a resolu- 
tion, the preamble of which ran thus: — 'Where- 
as the system of slavery is contrary to the law of 
nature and the law of God, and is a violation of 
ihe dearest rights of man, resolved, that the prin- 
19* 



2*22 MEETING AT 

ciplos of immediate abolition are derived from 
the unerring Word of God, and that no political 
circumstances whatever can exonerate Christians 
from exerting all their moral influence for the 
suppression of this heinous sin.' That utterly 
annihilated his own letter in New York, and he 
[Mr. T.] had some reason to believe that the 
word political, was introduced as a reproof to the 
doctor. The doctor had assigned three totally 
djlferent reasons for not attending the meeting, 
and his friends assigned a fourth. He had said 
that ho did not attend at New York on account 
of the political bearing of the question, with 
Avhich, as a stranger, a foreigner, a visitor, he 
could not attempt to intermeddle. There the 
doctor made a grand attack upon him [Mr.'T.] — 
there he set the mob upon him "[cries of Shame,] 
-and justified all they had ever said about his be- 
ing an intermedcller. (Loud applause.) The very 
vilest papers in the Union had announced, on the 
12th of Alay, that Dr. Cox would be at the anti- 
slavery meeting ; and he (Mr. Tliompson) wish- 
ed it to be known that it was only in the opposi- 
tion papers, and not in those favorable to aboli- 
tion, that the doctor's presence at the meeting 
had been announced. They said that he could 
not help being there, and yet he did help it. (A 
laugh.) In New Hampshire the doctor assigned 
a totally different reason, and said, that it appear- 
ed that he could do more good in a private way. 
iln his book, he said he did not go because he 
should have been obliged to have spoken with 
■disapprobation of the measures of the anti-slave- 
ry agent, and therefore he did not go. His 
friends assigned a fourth reason, and said he did 
not speak upon the question because he was not 
-sent there for that purpose, and because, if he liad 



LONDON. ^23 

spokon he v/ould have compromised the object 
which lie went especially to promote. He (Mr, 
T.) would like to know how these four reasons 
could be blended into one, and made a sufficient 
reason for Dr. Cox's non-attendance. But why 
did he mention tiiose circumstances.^ In order 
to justify himself from the vile calumnies which 
the Dr's. book cast upon him. If he had not 
been honest to Dr. Cox, would there have been a 
single impugning of his (Mr. T's) measures.? He 
trowed not. If Dr. Cox believed that he was 
' rolling back the cause,' it was his duty as a mem- 
ber of the Committee which sent him out to write 
home to that eftect ; it was his duty as a minister 
of Christ, as a man, and as a countryman, to have 
taken him aside, and told him of his faults. ''It 
was still more his (Dr. Cox's) duty, when he (Mr. 
T.) faced him before the Committee, to call for 
an explanation of his conduct. He had the best 
reason for pledging himself in America on behalf 
of Dr. Cox before he arrived, and it was his duty 
to denounce him as an abolitionist when he did 
not attend the meeting. (Cheers.) Why shouM 
Dr. Cox have been at the Anti-Slavery Meeting ? 
Because he was a member of the British and For- 
eign Society for the extinction of slavery and the 
slave trade throughout the world ; because he 
was a member of the Baptist denomination, and 
the Baptist churches throughout the land had 
been told that he was sent with all fidelity to 
promote the sacred cause of negro emancipation ; 
because he had solemnly pledged himself to do 
all that he could, and had said, m the presence of 
Ins ministerial brethren, that he was prepared to 
go to the prison and to the gallows in the cause, 
lie should have gone— because he was a man, 
-and because he owed it to mankind to be there. 



234 MEETING AT 

(Applause.) He, should have gone because he 
^va.a a Christian minister, and it was ijis duty to 
rebuke the crying abomination of the land. To 
take a jou-rraey of 3,000 miles to say, ' Plow d-o 
yon do? I am very glad to see you-; very nice 
wine ;; very niee n^ufton — [loud Inughter} — and 
not to say a M'ord on behalf of the bleeding, suf- 
fering, oprpressed slave, lest the heavenly-mind- 
edpess of the r»eeting sbould be destroyed'} 
(Cheers.) 'HeaveHly-ramdedness t* (said Mr. T.) 
O that I could have brought all the chains and 
whips in the United States around that ecclesias- 
tical convention, and made them eelio and rattle 
in tl*e ears of that 'heavenly-minded' assembly. 
(Loud" and long continued cheers.)' Ha-rmony .'— - 
harmony in sin. (Hear, hear.) Harmony ! — har- 
mony depending upon silence in behalf of Good's 
poor. (Hear, hear.) Harmony and union !— a 
union for each other's destruction. Had Dr. CoX 
gone to the meeting, laid his letter on the table, 
commenced an aft'ectionate and faithful address 
upon the subject, and had he been checked, and 
gagged, and dismissed in the middle of the first 
sentence, he would have retwrned to this country 
with honor. (Immense cheering.) He called 
upon th« people of England to set their face 
henc«forth and for ever, against any mtin, no mat- 
ter what his station or his talent, unless they 
knew that he would unflinchingly lift up his voice 
for the oppressed, (Cheers-.) It should not lie 
owing to his negligence if either the Congrega- 
tionalists or the Baptists ever sent out a tempori- 
zing deputation to America again. Dr. Cox had 
said that he had already stated his opinions on the 
subject in England, and that ihey had reached 
America. They were or they were not known 
there. If they were known already, he had the- 



LONDON. 225 

more reason to bo at the meeting^, to maintain Iiis 
jcharacter as an anti-slavery man. On the 12th 
•of May Dr. Cox and liimself v;ere coupled in ths 
JVew York Inquirer, and the editor recommended 
the citizens to give them a jacket of tar and 
feathers ; and on the 13th out came the same pa- 
per, with two columns — one column with the vi- 
lest abuse ever penned, levelled at his (Mr. T's) 
devoted head; and the other, the most fulsome 
coiTtipliments ever bestowed on an individual. It 
was his /(Mr. T's) honor to have the calumnies; 
it was Dr. ■Cox's to iiave the compliments, 
(Cheers.) How did he know that Dr. Cox had 
served the cause of slavery ? Because he was 
praised by every pro-slavery paper in America. 
(Hear, hear.) How did he know that Dr. Reed 
.iiad served the cause ? Because his book had 
been quoted by all the pro-slavery papers in that 
country. The vilest pro -sla-very papers had sung 
Dr. Cox's praises throughout the land. Why 
should Dr. Cox have been at the meeting ? Be- 
cause the abolitionists of America Avere the 
weaker party, and it would have been magnani- 
mous to have been tiiere. (Hear, hear.) Dr. Cox 
said very significantly, in one part of his book, 
' I found scarcely any of the influential Baptist 
friends abolitionists.' He (Mr. T.) had no doubt 
that there was a great deal of meaning there. M 
was common of old to put this question--r' Have 
any of the rulers believed on him.^' (Cheers. 
Very much on a par with them was the quotation 
from Dr. Cox. Had he found many of the influ- 
ential Baptists among the abolitionists, no doubt 
he would have found himself there. (Cheers.) But 
during the whole time that he was in the United 
States he never identified himself with them. 
IJut he did mure. After having declined to be at 



226 MEETING AT 

the meeting at New York and at Boston, and Iiail 
supported the resolution which he (Mr. T.) liad 
read, he (Dr. Cox) came down to Boston, the pro- 
slavery party in that city got up a requisition to 
the Mayor for a meeting to traduce tlie abolition- 
ists, and tii.e most vile elements in the city were 
put in motfon. On the day the meeting was to 
be held the lending abolitionists were marketl 
out for destruction, and were obliged to leave the 
city with their wives and children, believing that 
the speeches made on that day wouM lead to the 
destruction of their houses at night. Ancf wh© 
sat on the right hand of the eJjairmnn while the 
speeches were made ? Dr. Cox. (Loud crifs of 
* Shame,* and hisses.) Mr. Thompson inquired 
whether those marks of disapprobatioi were di- 
rected against the actor against him (Mr. T. ?) 
(Cries of 'The act.') 

The Rbv. Geo. Evaks inqiuired' on whak a6^- 
thority Mr. Thom<psoH miade that statement ? 

Mr. TiiaMPSON replied, — the book published 
by Dr. Cox, in his account of the meeting at Fan- 
oeil Hall. While Dr. Cox was sittings at the 
right hand of the chairman, the Hon, Peleg 
Sprague rose and made a speech. The '^viti.pc- 
ration ' which he ^Mr. T.) had poured out on Dr. 
Cox was compliment compared with the venom 
Avhich he (Mr, S.) spewed forth upon our common 
country. Dr. Cox sat by the side of the chair- 
man ; ' but would I,' said Mr. Thompson, ' have 
sat and beard it ? ' (Immense cheers.) No : but 
I do not wonder that the man who dare not plead 
the cause of the poor slave, dare not defend his 
country. (Long-continued cheering.) The Hon. 
Mr. Sprague, in the presence of the venerable 



London. 227 

?iinhor, Dr. Cox (a laugh,} pointed, in the course 
of his speech, to the portrait of General Wash'- 
ington, for the purpose ot sanctioning slavehold* 
ing. Dr. Cox was there, but he uas not at the 
anli-slnvory n^ieeting in New York. Why he 
(iMr. T.) had been calumniated in thxit book, wa») 
becaus'! he had had the faithfuhiess, in the Uni^ 
ted States', l-o denounce that conduct. Was he 
sorry for it? Noc he wouid repeat it again that 
night. Jf a man could be eloquent on this side 
of the water — if in Finsbury Chapel or Exeter 
Hall, and amid admiring and applauding breth- 
ren, 3,000 miles from the scene of slavery, he 
could eloquently denounce the system, and when 
he crossed to the shores where it was found, 
could desert the cause, lie would desert him as a 
coadjutor in the cause of abolition. (Immense 
cheering.) Mr. Thompson compared the conduct 
of Dr. Cox with that of a director of a Mission"- 
ary Society going to visit a Missionary station^ 
and when he arrived, being apprised of a Mis- 
sionary meeting to be held there, but refusing to 
attend it because he wa^ not expressly sent out 
tor that purpose. He might go over other charge 
PS, but he would not do so. He would leave the 
Christian world to judge between himself ai)d 
Dr. Cox. He would rather have broached this 
suhject any where than at a public meeting, be- 
cause he did not wish to make it a matter of pub- 
lic animadversion. But Dr. Cox had made ev 
parte stntenienis of a most injurious character. 
He (Dr. C.) had put on record on the committee 
books state m<?nts which he (Mr. T.) had been 
obliged to contradict in toto. In fact, he was 
chai^god with rolling back the cause; and there- 
fore he owed it to the friends of England, Scot- 
land, and Ireland, who were looking with intense 



228 MEETING AT 

anxiety to every thing that was said and done or? 
this subject, to vindicate his charncter, on public 
grounds, from every thing contained in Dr. CoxV 
book. (Cheers.) 

He must notice one statement utterly at vari- 
ance with the fact. In a letter which Dr. Cox 
had published in the Patriot of Wednesday last, 
he made the unqualified assertion, that he (Mr*^ 
T.) was sent forth by three individuals. What 
effect was that likely to produce in America be- 
fore be could send his voice thither to counter- 
act it ? It would be said that he (Mr. T.,) wha 
Kad stated thathe represented thousands in Scot- 
land and London, had, after all, been sent forth 
by three individuals only. What was the fact? 
It was his honor in 1830, to become the agent of 
the Agency Anti-Slavery Society, and from that 
fiour to the present moment, iiis connection witb 
that Society had never been dissolved. (Lout^ 
cheers.) 

He was present when the Society took its ne\^ 
same ; there was a full committee, and it was- 
then that his mission was decided upon, and an- 
appeal was made to the public on the ground of 
that mission. How was it, then, that Dr. Cox 
said, that he was sent by three individuals? 
There was a little truth in it, and it was but a 
little. Several meetings of the committee were 
held, and were fully attended, nnd at last ho left 
London, viffited Scotland, and then went to Liver- 
pool for the purpose of cmbnrking for America,.- 
At that juncture, news reached his countrv, that 
there had been serious riots in Nev/ York; that 
the house of Mr. Tappnn had been sacked, and- 
the furniture burned by the mob, and that the col- 
ored people had been persecuted to an unequal- 
led extent. (Hear, hear.) S^verd of tl^e com-- 



LONDON. 229 

mittee deemed it advisable to send him special 
instructions, and to put Iiim on his guard against 
mixing himself up with any party in America. A 
special committee was summoned, but, from the 
shortness of the notice, and the pressing engage- 
ments of the members, only a quorum were able 
to attend, and they sent special instructions by 
Mr. Scoble, that they might be certain of reach- 
ing him. Dr. Cox, on the day on which he 
wrote the letter to the Pafnof, examined the min- 
ute book, saw that meeting after meeting had 
been held, that this was the last prior to his de- 
parture, and then he wrote the unqualified asser- 
tion that he was sent by three persons. [Cries 
of 'Shame.'] He could appeal to those in that 
assembly, whether he had not been sent by 3,000 
ay, by 30,000. He had been travelling for six 
months in England and Scotland, and wherever 
he had gone, he had been freighted with the 
blessings and the confidence of the abolitionists ; 
and then America was told, through the medium 
of the Patriot, that he had been sent forth by 
three individuals. He would ask, was it just? — 
was it truth ? [Cries of ' No, no.'] Was it Chris- 
tianity ? [Cries of ' No, no.'] Here was an act 
calculated to injure a man in his dearest place — 
in his reputation. What should he call it? ' Do 
not,' said Mr. T. ' let us call it at all. Let us 
hope that he will repent and acknowledge it, 
and I will be the first to say then, what I say 
now, but with still greater emphasis — I freely 
forgive you.' [Loud and long continued cheer- 
ing.] There was another assertion of Dr. Cox's 
to which he must advert. He stated in the Pat- 
riot, (and he — Mr. T. — answered it because it 
was there,) ' I was in the chair when Mr. Thomp- 
son was giving in his report, by a kind of com- 
23 



230 MEETING AT 

pulsion.' What would the assembly think when 
he [Mr. T.] told them, that Dr. Cox was invited 
to take the chair in the committee while some pro 
forma business was g-one through, and that the 
moment it was done, the Dr. stated that he had a 
question of privilege to bring forward? The 
Secretary said, that as the Dr. was going to bring 
on a question of privilege, he should quit the 
chair. The Dr. chose to remain in it. His words 
were — 'I think I can accomplish the business I 
have to do, and retain the chair.' As the ques- 
tion referred to some harsh expressions used by 
a certain individual in a letter on Dr. Cox, the 
person who was implicated rose and said, 'Do 
you mean me to reply to the statement you are 
making?' Dr. Cox replied in the affirmative. 
And then the individual suggested the necessity 
of the Dr. leaving the chair, that they might stand 
on equal terms, and submit the whole matter to 
the committee. But Dr. Cox, in the face of all 
delicacy and good feeling, persisted in keeping 
the chair. [' Sliame, shame.'] Yet Dr. Cox, in re- 
plying to his [Mr. T's] statements, said he had 
few opportunities of investigating his conduct, 
because he was in the chair by a kind of compul- 
sion. It was indeed 'a kind of compulsion.' He 
[Mr. T.] should rather be inclined to call it 're- 
pulsion.' [Loud laughter and cheers.] Mr. T. 
then pressed upon the audience that a great work 
remained yet to be accomplished. He had lately 
called upon Daniel O'Connell, Esq., for the pur- 
pose of introducing to him a gentleman from 
America. Mr. O'Connell said he had made it 
a rule never to see any person from that country 
who was not a member of the Anti-Slave- 
ry Society. [Immense cheering.] But in this 
case, when he found who attended the gentle^ 



LONDON. 131 

man, [Mr. Thompson,] he at once admitted him, 
remaridng- that he knew what kind of man he was 
from the company he kept. [Laughter and 
cheers.] Mr. O'Connell had informed him [Mr. 
T.] that the present Archbishop of Charleston 
was a particular friend of his, and a gentleman 
from that country had lately called upon him [Mr. 
O'C] with an introduction from his friend. But 
finding- that he was a slaveholder, he refused to 
see him. [Deafening applause.] Not even an 
introduction from the Archbishop of Charleston 
would introduce a slaveholder to the hand, the 
heart, the hearth of Daniel O'Connell. [Reiter- 
ated cheers.] In conclusion, Mr. T. remarked, 
that if Dr. Cox would express his regret at the 
statements he had made, if a second edition of 
his work should be called for, and he would ex- 
punge the attacks which had been made upon his 
character, and confess that he had been in error, 
he [Mr. T.] should be glad, as Dr. Cox could be 
desirous he should be, to give him the benefit of 
any explanation, any concession, any contradic- 
tion of the statements which he might choose to 
make. But until that, he should feel it his duty 
to take that book wherever he went, to counter- 
act its influence, and justify his own measures, 
[Loud cheers.] 

E. Baldwin, Esq. said, he felt it due to Mr. 
Thompson, that the meeting should express their 
opinion with regard to that gentleman's conduct 
in America. Without further preface he should 
therefore move — 

' That having heard Mr. Thompson's justifica- 
tion of the course he pursued in America, this 
meeting is decidedly of opinion, that, in the per- 
ilous position in which he was placed, and under 



132 MEETING AT 

the circumstances of great difficulty and trial, he 
fulfilled his duty as a man and a Christian, and is 
deserving the commendation of every friend of 
humanity.' 

Judge Jeremy, in seconding the resolution, 
hore his testimony to the able exertions of Mr. 
Thompson in promoting the cause in which he 
was engaged, and to the courageous manner in 
which he had advocated those principles which 
he liad ever maintained. He approved of the 
resolution on this account, and also for another 
reason, — that while it vindicated las friend [Mr. 
T.] from the imputations which had been cast 
upon him, it threw aspersions on no other party. 

The resolution was then put, and carried by 
acclamation. 

Mr. Thompson briefly acknowledged the com- 
pliment, and avowed his determination to perse- 
vere in his efforts in this cause while God should 
continue his life and strength. 

The Rev. George Evans moved, and the Rev. 
T. Price seconded a vote of thanks to the Chair- 
man. 

The Chairman returned thanks, and the meet- 
ing separated. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OF THE 
LONDON PATRIOT. 



Sir, — I wish, through you, to intimate to the British 
public my deep conviction, in concurrence with that of 
many others, that Mr. Thompson's procedure, in holding 
meetings under the name of ' if^nti-Slavery Lectures,' for 
the purpose of attacking my conduct in America, and the 
publication I and my colleague have issued, is a most im- 
pertinent interference, and a mean attempt to prejudice 
the public mind. The platform may suit a mob orator, 
and his self-degrading abettors, but truth and character 
will ultimately prevail. As the statements that have been 
given may probably (in part at least) pervade some of 
your pages, and as I did not choose to come down to the 
level of meetings so convened, I beg to assure my friends, 
who may see uncontradicted and untenable representa- 
tions, to keep in view that at the proper time, and by the 
proper medium — the press, I pledge myself to the refuta- 
tion of the calumnies which I undeistand to have been ut- 
tered. 

Yours, respectfully. 

Hackney, May 81, 1836. F. A. COX. 



Sir, — Allow me to insert in your columns a very brief 
remark on two words used by Mr. Thompson in his letter, 
which is headed ' Slavery in America,' in your paper of 
May 23. 



234 MEETING AT 

Mr Thompson states, that my version of his concluding 
remarks, at the New York Abolition Meeting last year, is 
an ' entire misrepresentation.' u t j 

I had not seen vour paper of the above date when 1 ad- 
dressed to Mr. Thompson a letter from Ledbury yester- 
day, which I presume will be read by him at the nieeting 
advertised for to-morrow, the 26th, and probably find its 
way into your pages. Had I seen the above uncourteous 
remark, 1 should certainly not have troubled myself to send 
an auswer to his invitation. u- a 

I have not designedly misrepresented any thing. As 
Mr. Thompson stands pledged to prove such misrepresen- 
tation ♦ from the book itself,' the public, of course, will 
be enabled to decide. 

It is a little singular that the proof sheet was at my 
house when a mutual friend from America, a most deter- 
mined Abolitionist, who was present at the meeting, was 
visiting me. I expressed to him my doubt about one ex- 
pression, and requested him to read what I had written. 
He did so, and his reply immediately was, ' Oh, it is true 
enough, there is no doubt but he said all that.' 
I remain, your obedient servant, 
Coleford, May 25, 1836. JAMES HOBY. 

P. S. Perhaps I ought to add, that I nevertheless struck 
out the expression on which I entertained a doubx. 

Sir ,_At the extraordinary meeting held \x} Devonshire 
square Chapel on last Thursday evening, some persons ap- 
peared somewhat displeased with me, inasmuch as, when 
Mr. Thompson slated that Dr. Cox had pledged himself, 
' in the midst of his brethren,' as to the hue ot conduct lie 
would pursue on the subject of American slavery, I took 
the liberty of asking, ' Where 1 ' Mr. Thompson refer- 
red to the Rev. T. Price as his authority, and that gentle- 
man stated that it was in a committee-meeting of the Bap- 
tist Union, but he had forgotten where. 

The minute-book of that Committee, Sn-, now lies be- 
fore me, and I find that, from April 28,1834, when it was 
"resolved to recommend to the Annual Meeting to send a 
deputation to America, until the period of their departure, 
fourteen meetings of the Committee were held, at one only 
of which Mr. Price was present. This meeting was held 



LONDON. ^35 

at * Stepney College, August 27, 3834, present— the Rev* 
W. H. Murch, in the chair ; the Rev. Dr. Cox, the Rev. 
Messrs. Price, Stovel, Thomas, Belcher, and the Rev. 
Thomas Edmonds, A. M., of Cambridge, and the Rev. 
S. Green, Jun., of Tiirapstone, as visitors.' Now, will 
Mr. Price have the kindness to say whether the 'pledge * 
was given at that meeting 1 Certainly nothing of the kind 
can be learnt from the minutes. 

I am. Sir, very truly yours, 

JOSEPH BELCHER. 
27, Paternoster-row, May 30, 1836. 



Sir, — In Dr. Cox's reply to Mr. Thompson^ inserted 
in your paper of the 25th, an allusion is obviously made to 
myself, which I cannot permit to pass unnoticed. When 
specifying his reasons for not meeting Mr. T., the doctor 
remarks, ' I say nothing of the kindness or piety of the 
parties who have j)repared the arena.' I have no dispo- 
sition to car]) at the terms here employed. The doctor 
was at liberty to select such as he pleased, though his vo- 
cabulary might, possibly, have supplied others more per- 
tinent and suitable. My object, Mr. Editor, is to state, 
for the information of your readers, what Dr. Cox un- 
doubtedly felt assured of, while penning this passage, that 
I am the only person who had any thing to do with the 
affair. I granted the use of the chapel to Mr. Thompson, 
on my own responsibility, without consulting an individ- 
ual, and am not now disposed to shrink from any of the 
consequences which this step fairly involves. I am the 
more desirous of this being known, because it has been in- 
timated to one of my deacons, by a gentleman officially 
connected with the doctor, that the granting of the place 
to Mr. Thompson would be regarded as an act of hostility 
on the part of the Devonshire-square church towards that 
meeting in Mare-street, Hackney. INothing can be more 
groundless or absurd than such an insinuation, as the above 
statement must clearly show. 

I granted the place to Mr. Thompson on public grounds, 
for the delivery of a lecture on the character of American 
Slavery, and the progress of the abolition cause in that 
country, fully aware that these topics would, of necessity, 

involve a reference to the part which had been acted by 



236 MEETING AT 

the Baptist deputation. The only condition I requfrot^ 
from Mr. T. was, that he should immediately announce 
his intention to the two gentlemen constituting that depu- 
tation, and proffer them an opportunity of replying to his 
statements. To this he most cordially assented, stating 
that it was perfectly coincident with hisown views of what 
was right : I stood in a similar relation to both parties, 
being a member of the Baptist Union from which the Drs. 
Cox and Hoby had proceeded to America, and of the Brit- 
ish and Foreign Abolition Society, by which Mr. Thomp- 
son was sent to that country. I entertained an unfeigned 
respect for all these gentlemen, and when I found that 
there were points in dispute between them, affecting their 
public character, and bearing directly on the interests ©f a 
cause, to which, in my more healthful and vigorous days, 
I had devoted my best energies, and when I knew that 
these matters were already public, I felt assured, and I do 
still feel assured, that it was alike due to Dr. Cox, to Mr. 
Thompson, and to the noble-minded men whom God has 
raised up on behalf of suffering humanity in America, to 
give to the two parties a fair opportunity of stating their 
case before the public and in the presence of each other. 
I cheerfully granted my chapel to Mr, Thompson, and I 
should have been equally ready to grant it to Dr. Cox on 
the same condition. The interests of truth and righteous- 
ness were never yet promoted by the concealment of facts 
respecting the public proceedings of public men. Nor did 
it once enter into my mind that Dr. C. would hesitate to 
be present on such an occasion, as I had heard him prior 
to the return of Mr. T. say, ' Mr. Thompson has threat- 
ened me with a meeting at Exeter Hall; I am ready to 
meet him there or elsewhere.' 

Here, Mr. Editor, I should be glad to close my com- 
munication ; but a regard to Mr, Thompson, and to the 
Society which he represents, compels me very briefly to 
advert to two or three very gross inaccuracies into which 
the doctor has fallen. I am the more surprised at these in- 
accuracies, as Dr. C, I am informed, called at Alderman- 
bury only a few hours before drawing up his letter, and ex- 
amined the minute-book of the Society. 

1. Dr. Cox states that Mr. Tliompson was sent to 
America by three persons. Here he is entirely mistaken, 
as the slightest attention to the minute-book was sufficient 
to have shown him. The Committee Meeting, to nvhich 



LONDON. 237 

Dr. Cox refers, when only three persons were present, was 
held alter Mr. T's departure from London for America. 
He was then at Liverpool, waiting for a favorable wind, to 
proceed on the Mission to which he had been invited by 
the American Anti-Slavery Society. 

The Scottish Abolition Societies had united with that 
in London, in urging him to accept this invitation, and had 
contributed liberally towards the expense which would be 
involved. Mr. T's mission to the United States was con- 
templated by the Society from the moment that its title 
was changed from the Agency Anti-Slavery Society to that 
of the British and Foreign Society, &c. I moved in the 
Committee the adoption of the new title, and America 
was at once fixed on as the first scene of our operations, 
and Mr. T. as the agent who should carry out our plans. 
The fact is. Dr. Cox has most strangely mistaken the ob- 
ject of the Committee Meeting to which he refers, and 
when three persons only were present. It was summoned 
under the following circumstances : — After Mr. T. had 
left for Liverpool, on his way to America, news arrived 
of the destruction of the Chapels at New York. Mr. 
George Stephen immediately called at Aldermanbury, and 
entreated the Secretary to get a few members of the Com- 
mittee together instantly, that additional instructions might 
be drawn up for Mr. T. This was done, on the spur of 
the moment; and three gentlemen met; and Mr. Scoble 
^vas sent to Liverpool by the speediest conveyance that 
could be obtained. In confirmation of my statements, I 
refer to Mr. Scoble, our esteemed Secretary, and to the 
Minute-book of the Society, which, I am sure, he will 
freely exhibit to any gentleman desiring satisfaction on 
this point. 

2. Mr. Thompson having referred to Dr. Cox's silence 
at the special meeting of the anti-slavery committee, on the 
16th of March last. Dr. C. replies, ' Mr. T. has not told 
the public that I not only attended, but was, and that by a 
kind of compulsion, placed in the chair. Perhaps this 
concealment resembles that of my note at New York, un- 
intentional and accidental.' The Doctor afterwards refers 
to the delicacy of his situation as chairman, as one of the 
circumstances which imposed silence on him. I was not 
present at this committee, but having attentively examined 
the minute-book, and having received a detailed account 
of what passed, from the secretary, I am competent to say 
that the facts of the case are simply these ; — 



238 MEETING AT LONDON. 

When the committee met, there were but three or (bnr 
gentlemen present. One and another excused himself 
from taking the chair. Dr. Cox being requested to occu- 
py it, remarked that he had a question of privilege to 
bring on, which might render it inexpedient that he should 
be in the chair. He was tlien asked to occupy it while 
the pro forma business was transacted, by which time, it 
was remarked, some other gentleman would arrive that 
could take his place. He consented to this request — the 
pro forma business was gone through, and the Doctor 
being then asked by the secretary to vacate the chair, de- 
clined to do so, stating, that he thought he could do more 
justice to his views in his present situation. At a subse- 
quent part of the proceedings of the committee, he was 
again requested by the secretary to leave the chair, but 
again declined. So much for Mr. Thompson's conceal- 
ment, and the delicate situation of Dr. Cox. Here I 
again appeal to Mr. Scoble and the minute-book. 

3. Mr. T. having requested his readers to compare Dr. 
Cox's version of the speech of the Rev. Baron Stow with, 
the report of that speech in the New York ObserveF,.Dr, , 
Cox replies, ' Well, let the reader compare,' &c. adding 
' Behold them, then in parallel columns.' 

JNovv, Mr. Editor, would any of your readers imagine 
otherwise than that the Doctor's report, taken from his 
own book, and that of the New York Observer were here 
before him, whole and entire 1 Such certainly was my 
impression, and I cannot express my surprise, when, on 
comparing them, I found that the Doctor had omitted the 
two most material sentences from the report of the New 
York Observer, merely remarking, ' He talked, it is true, 
of an ' unpleasant blush,' and wished me to fill it up with 
reasons for the omission,' &e. The sentences omitted are 
the following, and formed the first and the last of Mr. 
Stow's speech, which contained three others : — Mr. Stow 
said, that in oflTering this resolution, he stood before the 
society, in circumstances which mantled his cheek with a 
most unpleasant blush. Let the gentleman himself fill it 
up with reasons for the omission, that would be satisfac- 
tory to himself, to his own country, and to his brethren 
throughout the world.' Here, Mr. Editor, as in the for- 
mer instance, I have to do with facts only; and no one 
of your readers will be better pleased than myself to re~ 
ceive a satisfactory explanation. THO. PRICEv 

Finchley Common, May 28, 1836. 



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